Victoria Zigler's Blog: Zigler News, page 160
July 15, 2015
Wednesday's writing related ramblings - July 15th 2015
Don't forget: some of my eBooks are still available at discounted prices as part of the 2015 Smashwords Summer/Winter sale!
Thanks to Chris The Story Reading Ape, Amber Fox, Kevin Morris, and Alex Butcher, for helping to spread the word.
Alex Butcher has some of her books in the Smashwords Summer/Winter sale too, as do several other Smashwords authors. So, don't forget to go check Smashwords for some great eBook deals before the end of this month.
***
This is a great explanation of a story arc, which you should read if you're a writer who needs some help with story structure.
So, you have your main character figured out, and now he or she needs a supporting cast. Well... Here's a 5 step recipe to create your protagonist's inner circle; follow this recipe, and you'll have a great cast of characters in no time.
Speaking of characters... Here are some tips on how to survive your fictional characters' all night bickering in six easy ways; for those nights when your characters refuse to shut up, and you have to get up early the next morning. This one's not a problem for me, because if my characters keep me up all night, I just sleep in the day. Ha! Take that imaginary voices in my head!
Anyway... Your book is written, now it's time to get it sold. Of course, the first thing you probably did was tell all your friends and family, and then post about it on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. But if you'd like to do a bit more, here are 5 ways to market your book without social media.
Thanks to Chris The Story Reading Ape, Amber Fox, Kevin Morris, and Alex Butcher, for helping to spread the word.
Alex Butcher has some of her books in the Smashwords Summer/Winter sale too, as do several other Smashwords authors. So, don't forget to go check Smashwords for some great eBook deals before the end of this month.
***
This is a great explanation of a story arc, which you should read if you're a writer who needs some help with story structure.
So, you have your main character figured out, and now he or she needs a supporting cast. Well... Here's a 5 step recipe to create your protagonist's inner circle; follow this recipe, and you'll have a great cast of characters in no time.
Speaking of characters... Here are some tips on how to survive your fictional characters' all night bickering in six easy ways; for those nights when your characters refuse to shut up, and you have to get up early the next morning. This one's not a problem for me, because if my characters keep me up all night, I just sleep in the day. Ha! Take that imaginary voices in my head!
Anyway... Your book is written, now it's time to get it sold. Of course, the first thing you probably did was tell all your friends and family, and then post about it on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. But if you'd like to do a bit more, here are 5 ways to market your book without social media.
July 13, 2015
Monday's random mutterings - July 13th 2015 (FD)
I finally got to spend some time down near the ocean on Tuesday.
The weather wasn't as beautiful as it has been, but it was nice enough to be out (despite the storm that was threatening) and, in some ways, the weather not being fantastic was better, because the beach wasn't so packed with people. Well, it being the middle of a weekday would have helped with that a little too, but on really nice days it seems everyone who doesn't have to be in work or school is on the beach, and it can get quite noisy and crowded. I prefer to have room to breathe, if you know what I mean, so I was glad to have an almost deserted stretch of beach to enjoy in peace. Besides, the weather wasn't too bad. I mean, it was obvious that storm was on the way; we could feel it and smell it in the air. But it was warm and dry enough that we didn't need jackets, and not too windy either.
Anyway, I sat down there by myself for a bit... Just enjoying feeling the breeze from the ocean, while listening to the waves crash against the shore, and the sea birds calling... While Kelly went to fetch lunch.
Kelly had chicken, I had an egg baguette, and we shared some fries. We gave the birds some of the fries too... The pigeons and gulls love when you throw them fries. Well, actually, they love when you throw them any food.
After lunch, we took a leisurely walk along the promonade for a while before heading home, and some of the birds followed us until we went up to the street. I think they hoped we had more lunch to share with them, but obviously gave up on us when they saw we were leaving.
We also saw a bird that may have been a
Oh, and.. In case you're wondering... We made it home in plenty of time before the storm showed up. We'd been home about an hour when the wind picked up, and the storm happened some time later.
***
I've started roleplaying with my brother, Carl, my Dad, and a family friend named Gareth.
Since Dad and Gareth are the only two anywhere near each other, we're doing it via TeamSpeak, because it's a bit easier to use than Skype (especially for Carl and I, who are using screen readers). I mean, Jaws does work with Skype, but it works better with TeamSpeak. Besides, I think Dad likes TeamSpeak better.
We're playing the 7th edition of Call of Cthulhu at the moment. The guys had already had a couple of sessions when I joined in, but there wasn't all that much for me to catch up on, really. Just about two sessions, I think.
There's supposed to be a game about twice a month. This first session was last Monday afternoon, and the next will be on a Monday too (a week today). The day's meant to be changing after that though, since Monday afternoons are no longer good for Carl. So, I think we're changing to a Thursday afternoon instead.
Anyway, I'm playing a nurse named Roisin. It's set in the 1920s, so I'm playing a nurse of Irish descent (her name is the Irish for rose) who was a nurse in the 1st World War, because she wanted to be one so she could follow her fiance when he had to go to war. Although, if her luck continues like it did last week, I won't be playing her for long, since she's already quite beaten up... Apparently the luck of the Irish wasn't with her last Monday.
But, despite that, I did enjoy my first session of Call of Cthulhu. In fact, as I said on Facebook just after the session ended... It's probably the only time I'm ever going to be saying I had fun while having my arm torn open by the lethal claw of a flying monster thing, and then hitting my head on a stone grave marker so hard I almost passed out.
See... I said she was quite beaten up.
Still, it could have been worse... Those things could have been happening to me, rather than just to my character!
The weather wasn't as beautiful as it has been, but it was nice enough to be out (despite the storm that was threatening) and, in some ways, the weather not being fantastic was better, because the beach wasn't so packed with people. Well, it being the middle of a weekday would have helped with that a little too, but on really nice days it seems everyone who doesn't have to be in work or school is on the beach, and it can get quite noisy and crowded. I prefer to have room to breathe, if you know what I mean, so I was glad to have an almost deserted stretch of beach to enjoy in peace. Besides, the weather wasn't too bad. I mean, it was obvious that storm was on the way; we could feel it and smell it in the air. But it was warm and dry enough that we didn't need jackets, and not too windy either.
Anyway, I sat down there by myself for a bit... Just enjoying feeling the breeze from the ocean, while listening to the waves crash against the shore, and the sea birds calling... While Kelly went to fetch lunch.
Kelly had chicken, I had an egg baguette, and we shared some fries. We gave the birds some of the fries too... The pigeons and gulls love when you throw them fries. Well, actually, they love when you throw them any food.
After lunch, we took a leisurely walk along the promonade for a while before heading home, and some of the birds followed us until we went up to the street. I think they hoped we had more lunch to share with them, but obviously gave up on us when they saw we were leaving.
We also saw a bird that may have been a
Oh, and.. In case you're wondering... We made it home in plenty of time before the storm showed up. We'd been home about an hour when the wind picked up, and the storm happened some time later.
***
I've started roleplaying with my brother, Carl, my Dad, and a family friend named Gareth.
Since Dad and Gareth are the only two anywhere near each other, we're doing it via TeamSpeak, because it's a bit easier to use than Skype (especially for Carl and I, who are using screen readers). I mean, Jaws does work with Skype, but it works better with TeamSpeak. Besides, I think Dad likes TeamSpeak better.
We're playing the 7th edition of Call of Cthulhu at the moment. The guys had already had a couple of sessions when I joined in, but there wasn't all that much for me to catch up on, really. Just about two sessions, I think.
There's supposed to be a game about twice a month. This first session was last Monday afternoon, and the next will be on a Monday too (a week today). The day's meant to be changing after that though, since Monday afternoons are no longer good for Carl. So, I think we're changing to a Thursday afternoon instead.
Anyway, I'm playing a nurse named Roisin. It's set in the 1920s, so I'm playing a nurse of Irish descent (her name is the Irish for rose) who was a nurse in the 1st World War, because she wanted to be one so she could follow her fiance when he had to go to war. Although, if her luck continues like it did last week, I won't be playing her for long, since she's already quite beaten up... Apparently the luck of the Irish wasn't with her last Monday.
But, despite that, I did enjoy my first session of Call of Cthulhu. In fact, as I said on Facebook just after the session ended... It's probably the only time I'm ever going to be saying I had fun while having my arm torn open by the lethal claw of a flying monster thing, and then hitting my head on a stone grave marker so hard I almost passed out.
See... I said she was quite beaten up.
Still, it could have been worse... Those things could have been happening to me, rather than just to my character!
July 10, 2015
Furkid Friday - July 10th 2015
Hi humans, rodents, and anyone else.
This is Joshua the degu.
Remember how Jenks told you Jasper and I got really nasty cuts?
Well, they're still sore!
They're not infected or anything, so the humans aren't worried. But they're sore enough that Jasper and I get upset if something rubs against them, because it hurts when that happens.
Jasper even gave the Mummy human a slight nip on the finger, because he burrowed his head in her hand to stop the Daddy human looking at his cut, and it hurt when her hand touched his cut.
She told him that wasn't nice, but she didn't really get cross about it because he didn't do it hard enough to even leave a mark; just enough to let the humans know it hurt, and he wasn't happy about that... So, nothing like the nips our gerbil brother, Bilbo, gives.
He only did it once though, and I've been even better, because I didn't even try to nip the humans once... Even though my cut still hurts too.
Squeak soon,
Joshua
This is Joshua the degu.
Remember how Jenks told you Jasper and I got really nasty cuts?
Well, they're still sore!
They're not infected or anything, so the humans aren't worried. But they're sore enough that Jasper and I get upset if something rubs against them, because it hurts when that happens.
Jasper even gave the Mummy human a slight nip on the finger, because he burrowed his head in her hand to stop the Daddy human looking at his cut, and it hurt when her hand touched his cut.
She told him that wasn't nice, but she didn't really get cross about it because he didn't do it hard enough to even leave a mark; just enough to let the humans know it hurt, and he wasn't happy about that... So, nothing like the nips our gerbil brother, Bilbo, gives.
He only did it once though, and I've been even better, because I didn't even try to nip the humans once... Even though my cut still hurts too.
Squeak soon,
Joshua
July 8, 2015
Wednesday's writing related ramblings - July 8th 2015
It's time for this year's Smashwords Summer/Winter sale, which they hold every July, and which I've enrolled a dozen of my books in this year; 6 are 75% off, and another 6 are 50% off.
If you missed the post I put up about it on Sunday, then go here for details of which books I've enrolled, how much they'll cost while they're on sale, and the coupon codes to use to get the sale price.
Please note that the sale only applies to the eBook versions of my books, and that the coupon codes are exclusively for use on Smashwords during July 2015.
Plenty of other authors also have their books on sale. Some are 25% off, some are 50% off, some are 75% off, and others are completely free. So, browse the books on sale and maybe you'll find a great deal on your next read!
***
Here’s an interesting article about “drive – the surprising truth about what motivates us”... What’s your answer to the question at the end? “What did you want to be when you were a child, and does it relate at all to what you are doing now? Can you see any connection between what you love doing now, and what your childhood aspirations were?” Seriously... I'm curious, so I'd love to get your answers to that question.
Sometimes we have to admit that there are things we are not good at, which we need to work on. Remember: though it can be difficult learning new things, it can also be fun sometimes. Plus, if it helps us to reach our dream, it's worth it, isn't it?
Speaking of learning things... Are you unsure what hooks, plants, and book-end closures are? Well, that article will give you a short explanation of each.
Do you publish your books exclusively on Amazon, and also publish extracts of your work on your blog? If so, you might want to be aware of what can happen if Amazon find out - apparently they don't like it.
Wondering if you're doing enough to be a successful author? Here are 50 questions to ask yourself about your author platform, which will help you to figure out what - if anything - you need to work harder on.
Also... Here are 100 questions to ask yourself before you write your novel, and some questions for beta readers.
OK, so your book is done, and you want some reviews... Understandably. Well, there are plenty of book bloggers out there who may be interested in doing one for you. Once you find a potential book blogger, here are a few little tips for increasing your chances of getting them to review your book.
And, finally, here's a website that boasts 7 strategies, and over 100 tools, to help self-published authors find readers and reviewers, which appears to be worth taking a look at.
If you missed the post I put up about it on Sunday, then go here for details of which books I've enrolled, how much they'll cost while they're on sale, and the coupon codes to use to get the sale price.
Please note that the sale only applies to the eBook versions of my books, and that the coupon codes are exclusively for use on Smashwords during July 2015.
Plenty of other authors also have their books on sale. Some are 25% off, some are 50% off, some are 75% off, and others are completely free. So, browse the books on sale and maybe you'll find a great deal on your next read!
***
Here’s an interesting article about “drive – the surprising truth about what motivates us”... What’s your answer to the question at the end? “What did you want to be when you were a child, and does it relate at all to what you are doing now? Can you see any connection between what you love doing now, and what your childhood aspirations were?” Seriously... I'm curious, so I'd love to get your answers to that question.
Sometimes we have to admit that there are things we are not good at, which we need to work on. Remember: though it can be difficult learning new things, it can also be fun sometimes. Plus, if it helps us to reach our dream, it's worth it, isn't it?
Speaking of learning things... Are you unsure what hooks, plants, and book-end closures are? Well, that article will give you a short explanation of each.
Do you publish your books exclusively on Amazon, and also publish extracts of your work on your blog? If so, you might want to be aware of what can happen if Amazon find out - apparently they don't like it.
Wondering if you're doing enough to be a successful author? Here are 50 questions to ask yourself about your author platform, which will help you to figure out what - if anything - you need to work harder on.
Also... Here are 100 questions to ask yourself before you write your novel, and some questions for beta readers.
OK, so your book is done, and you want some reviews... Understandably. Well, there are plenty of book bloggers out there who may be interested in doing one for you. Once you find a potential book blogger, here are a few little tips for increasing your chances of getting them to review your book.
And, finally, here's a website that boasts 7 strategies, and over 100 tools, to help self-published authors find readers and reviewers, which appears to be worth taking a look at.
July 6, 2015
Monday's random mutterings - July 6th 2015 (LBE)
I hope you had a happy 4th of July weekend!
Did you see lots of fireworks?
If you didn't see many - or, any - fireworks... Or, if you did, but you love fireworks so much you want to see more... Then you'll be glad to hear we finally got those firework photos sorted out a couple of days ago.
Here they are:
There were a few more, but we only kept the good ones.
I heard a few fireworks Saturday night too.
I'm not sure why, since we don't celebrate the 4th of July. But around here it seems to be a case of any excuse to have fireworks, so it could be just about anything.
We didn't bother to get photos that time though.
***
Here's the anniversary card my Grandma made us for our wedding anniversary back in May:
Yeah, I know... It's taken ages for me to sort out a photo of it.
First we kept forgetting to take the photo of it, and then it was waiting patiently on the camera card with the firework photos.
We got there in the end though, so that's what counts.
Anyway... Thanks, Grandma!
***
They sent someone out to take a look at the internet on Wednesday.
Bearing in mind, I've been telling them something's not right since it was set up when we moved here, but they kept insisting I just needed to give it time to settle, because it's a new connection and all that.
I know new connections need time to settle, but it shouldn't need several months. Besides, if anything it was getting worse.
Turns out our hub wasn't working properly, and likely hasn't worked properly since we got it.
I suspected as much, because we kept getting a green light, and that's not meant to happen. Well, the light is allowed to go green for a second or two when you first turn the hub on, but after that it's supposed to be blue (if you have a working internet connection) or amber (if you don't). But ours kept randomly turning green for a few seconds, and when it did that we'd have no internet access for anything from a few seconds to an hour afterwards.
Bearing in mind, this is the new hub that we were given when we moved here.
Anyway, I finally got them to agree that it wasn't working properly, so they sent out a replacement, which arrived on Friday.
So far, so good!
The internet is working a lot better than it was... Hopefully it will continue to do so.
***
The April reading challenge on one of the groups I'm a member of over on Goodreads was to complete at least one of the following:
-Read 1500 words
-Read a book by an Author you haven't read before
-Read a book that has a character with your name in it.
I completed two of the three things.
I read 30 books (details of which can be found on my "read" shelf on Goodreads). So that covered the 1500 words part.
Plus, I read a couple of new to me authors, but went with "Revan" by Drew Karpyshyn as the one I mentioned for the challenge.
I'm late posting about this one, because we get a badge when we complete challenges on this group, and I was waiting for the badge. Here it is:
June's reading challenge on the same Goodreads group was to complete at least one of the following:
-Read a new genre, one you haven't read before.
-Read one of June's readers addict nominated books
-Read a book that has been recommended to you.
-Read a book that has been sitting on your TBR shelf for over 6 months
-Read 1500 words.
(If you're wondering about number 2 on that list... The group is called "Reading Addicts" and it refers to one of the group's books of the month, of which there are usually about four, I think).
I completed the part about reading a book that's been sitting on my to-read shelf for more than six months, by reading "The Lightning Thief" (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1) by Rick Riordan - a book which has been waiting on my to-read shelf since November 2012.
I also read enough that I know for a fact I read more than 1500 words... Again, LOL!
Anyway... Here's my badge for completing June's challenge:
***
In case you didn't notice, but would like to know...
I moved the couple of links to where you can find Kelly and myself elsewhere, which I previously had on the sidebar, to a tab/page of their own.
So, to find us on other sites, or if you want to be able to e-mail us, and don't have an e-mail address you can use - or, had one, but lost it - just check out the "Contact Us or Find Us Elsewhere" tab near the top of this page, and you'll find all the links you need, as well as links you can click on to e-mail either of us.
The information can also be found on our profile pages on our website.
***
It’s been really hot here most of this past week, and the degus and I have been cranky.
Perhaps that was the reason for their fight a little over a week ago?
I don’t do well with too much heat, so anything above 20C (72F) will have me feeling uncomfortable and grumpy.
Our weather for most of this past week or so has been way above that point. It was 26C (84F) at 1:00am Thursday morning, for example. It should not be allowed to be that hot at night!
We brought a fan, since we don't have air conditioning, and the fan we had broke a while back (we were moving it from room to room as needed, and I'm thinking all the moving around didn't agree with it). We have it in the computer room, and will get another two as soon as we can, so we can have one in the bedroom and one in the living room too, and avoid having to keep moving the fan from room to room.
The new fan arrived on Saturday morning. So, naturally, Sunday (yesterday) then turned out to be a miserable day (weather wise, I mean). It wasn't all that warm, and was quite wet and stormy. Well, most of it... It got dry again, and warmed back up a little, about mid to late afternoon.
Of course!
Not only had we just got a fan to deal with the heat, but we'd planned to go sit down by the ocean in the morning.
You see, we couldn't go down to the beach earlier in the week, since we had to be in to wait for the engineer guy for the internet, the call from the company to discuss the engineer's visit, the delivery of our new hub, and the delivery of the fan. But we had nothing we needed to be doing yesterday. No housework we were behind on. No visitors coming. Nothing! Plus, it was Sunday, so there was no risk of us missing any packages.
Not to mention, I had a good sleep the evening before, so the chances were high that I'd be up in the morning, with enough energy to feel up to going out, and - more to the point - feel up to facing climbing three flights of stairs afterwards... Which, as it turned out, I was. But, of course, about the time it dried up again I was ready for a nap.
We heard a bird outside our bedroom window making a sound that sounded like laughter shortly before the storm arrived. Now I'm even more certain it was laughter; the bird knew the storm was coming, and knew my plans for the day, and found it funny that fate had dealt the hand it had.
It is kind of funny, if you think about it.
Or, maybe it's just me who thinks so?
Never mind.
Sure, I wanted to spend some time down on the beach, and am a bit disappointed that I ended up waiting around for people, phone calls, and packages, all week instead. But it's not like we haven't been down there several times since we moved here - both while we were at the old place, and since we moved even closer to the ocean - and we get a lot of the benifits of the beach even without leaving this apartment. Plus, I dare say there will be plenty of oppertunities to spend time on the beach again in the very near future.
Did you see lots of fireworks?
If you didn't see many - or, any - fireworks... Or, if you did, but you love fireworks so much you want to see more... Then you'll be glad to hear we finally got those firework photos sorted out a couple of days ago.
Here they are:
There were a few more, but we only kept the good ones.
I heard a few fireworks Saturday night too.
I'm not sure why, since we don't celebrate the 4th of July. But around here it seems to be a case of any excuse to have fireworks, so it could be just about anything.
We didn't bother to get photos that time though.
***
Here's the anniversary card my Grandma made us for our wedding anniversary back in May:
Yeah, I know... It's taken ages for me to sort out a photo of it.
First we kept forgetting to take the photo of it, and then it was waiting patiently on the camera card with the firework photos.
We got there in the end though, so that's what counts.
Anyway... Thanks, Grandma!
***
They sent someone out to take a look at the internet on Wednesday.
Bearing in mind, I've been telling them something's not right since it was set up when we moved here, but they kept insisting I just needed to give it time to settle, because it's a new connection and all that.
I know new connections need time to settle, but it shouldn't need several months. Besides, if anything it was getting worse.
Turns out our hub wasn't working properly, and likely hasn't worked properly since we got it.
I suspected as much, because we kept getting a green light, and that's not meant to happen. Well, the light is allowed to go green for a second or two when you first turn the hub on, but after that it's supposed to be blue (if you have a working internet connection) or amber (if you don't). But ours kept randomly turning green for a few seconds, and when it did that we'd have no internet access for anything from a few seconds to an hour afterwards.
Bearing in mind, this is the new hub that we were given when we moved here.
Anyway, I finally got them to agree that it wasn't working properly, so they sent out a replacement, which arrived on Friday.
So far, so good!
The internet is working a lot better than it was... Hopefully it will continue to do so.
***
The April reading challenge on one of the groups I'm a member of over on Goodreads was to complete at least one of the following:
-Read 1500 words
-Read a book by an Author you haven't read before
-Read a book that has a character with your name in it.
I completed two of the three things.
I read 30 books (details of which can be found on my "read" shelf on Goodreads). So that covered the 1500 words part.
Plus, I read a couple of new to me authors, but went with "Revan" by Drew Karpyshyn as the one I mentioned for the challenge.
I'm late posting about this one, because we get a badge when we complete challenges on this group, and I was waiting for the badge. Here it is:
June's reading challenge on the same Goodreads group was to complete at least one of the following:
-Read a new genre, one you haven't read before.
-Read one of June's readers addict nominated books
-Read a book that has been recommended to you.
-Read a book that has been sitting on your TBR shelf for over 6 months
-Read 1500 words.
(If you're wondering about number 2 on that list... The group is called "Reading Addicts" and it refers to one of the group's books of the month, of which there are usually about four, I think).
I completed the part about reading a book that's been sitting on my to-read shelf for more than six months, by reading "The Lightning Thief" (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1) by Rick Riordan - a book which has been waiting on my to-read shelf since November 2012.
I also read enough that I know for a fact I read more than 1500 words... Again, LOL!
Anyway... Here's my badge for completing June's challenge:
***
In case you didn't notice, but would like to know...
I moved the couple of links to where you can find Kelly and myself elsewhere, which I previously had on the sidebar, to a tab/page of their own.
So, to find us on other sites, or if you want to be able to e-mail us, and don't have an e-mail address you can use - or, had one, but lost it - just check out the "Contact Us or Find Us Elsewhere" tab near the top of this page, and you'll find all the links you need, as well as links you can click on to e-mail either of us.
The information can also be found on our profile pages on our website.
***
It’s been really hot here most of this past week, and the degus and I have been cranky.
Perhaps that was the reason for their fight a little over a week ago?
I don’t do well with too much heat, so anything above 20C (72F) will have me feeling uncomfortable and grumpy.
Our weather for most of this past week or so has been way above that point. It was 26C (84F) at 1:00am Thursday morning, for example. It should not be allowed to be that hot at night!
We brought a fan, since we don't have air conditioning, and the fan we had broke a while back (we were moving it from room to room as needed, and I'm thinking all the moving around didn't agree with it). We have it in the computer room, and will get another two as soon as we can, so we can have one in the bedroom and one in the living room too, and avoid having to keep moving the fan from room to room.
The new fan arrived on Saturday morning. So, naturally, Sunday (yesterday) then turned out to be a miserable day (weather wise, I mean). It wasn't all that warm, and was quite wet and stormy. Well, most of it... It got dry again, and warmed back up a little, about mid to late afternoon.
Of course!
Not only had we just got a fan to deal with the heat, but we'd planned to go sit down by the ocean in the morning.
You see, we couldn't go down to the beach earlier in the week, since we had to be in to wait for the engineer guy for the internet, the call from the company to discuss the engineer's visit, the delivery of our new hub, and the delivery of the fan. But we had nothing we needed to be doing yesterday. No housework we were behind on. No visitors coming. Nothing! Plus, it was Sunday, so there was no risk of us missing any packages.
Not to mention, I had a good sleep the evening before, so the chances were high that I'd be up in the morning, with enough energy to feel up to going out, and - more to the point - feel up to facing climbing three flights of stairs afterwards... Which, as it turned out, I was. But, of course, about the time it dried up again I was ready for a nap.
We heard a bird outside our bedroom window making a sound that sounded like laughter shortly before the storm arrived. Now I'm even more certain it was laughter; the bird knew the storm was coming, and knew my plans for the day, and found it funny that fate had dealt the hand it had.
It is kind of funny, if you think about it.
Or, maybe it's just me who thinks so?
Never mind.
Sure, I wanted to spend some time down on the beach, and am a bit disappointed that I ended up waiting around for people, phone calls, and packages, all week instead. But it's not like we haven't been down there several times since we moved here - both while we were at the old place, and since we moved even closer to the ocean - and we get a lot of the benifits of the beach even without leaving this apartment. Plus, I dare say there will be plenty of oppertunities to spend time on the beach again in the very near future.
July 4, 2015
Smashwords Summer/Winter sale 2015
I've enrolled the eBook versions of some of my books in the 2015 Smashwords Summer/Winter sale.
75% off – with coupon code SSW75:
Asha's Big Adventure (sale price: $1)
Cubby And The Beanstalk (sale price: $1)
Jinx And The Faerie Dragons (sale price: $1.25)
Mr. Pumpkin-Head And Other Poems (sale price: $1)
Yua And The Great Wizard Hunt (sale price: $1.25)
Zeena And The Dryad (sale price: $1.265)
50% off – with coupon code SSW50:
Filicity The Musical Platypus (sale price: $1.50)
Goodies For Grandmother (sale price: $1.50)
Home Squeak Home (sale price: $1.50)
Isabelle's Runaway Racehorse (sale price: $1.50)
Snowball The Oddball Kobold (sale price: $1.50)
Vinnie The Vegetarian Zombie (sale price: $0.99)
All coupons are valid until July 31st 2015, are exclusively for use on Smashwords, and give you access to all the eBook formats Smashwords offers (which means they can be read on the computer, on a Kindle or Nook, on an iPad or iPhone, or on just about any other device).
Click on the book title from the list above to go to the Smashwords page for the book in question, where you can purchase your copy.
Feel free to share these coupons with your family, friends, book loving pets, neighbours, random people you meet on the street... Anyone, really.
75% off – with coupon code SSW75:
Asha's Big Adventure (sale price: $1)
Cubby And The Beanstalk (sale price: $1)
Jinx And The Faerie Dragons (sale price: $1.25)
Mr. Pumpkin-Head And Other Poems (sale price: $1)
Yua And The Great Wizard Hunt (sale price: $1.25)
Zeena And The Dryad (sale price: $1.265)
50% off – with coupon code SSW50:
Filicity The Musical Platypus (sale price: $1.50)
Goodies For Grandmother (sale price: $1.50)
Home Squeak Home (sale price: $1.50)
Isabelle's Runaway Racehorse (sale price: $1.50)
Snowball The Oddball Kobold (sale price: $1.50)
Vinnie The Vegetarian Zombie (sale price: $0.99)
All coupons are valid until July 31st 2015, are exclusively for use on Smashwords, and give you access to all the eBook formats Smashwords offers (which means they can be read on the computer, on a Kindle or Nook, on an iPad or iPhone, or on just about any other device).
Click on the book title from the list above to go to the Smashwords page for the book in question, where you can purchase your copy.
Feel free to share these coupons with your family, friends, book loving pets, neighbours, random people you meet on the street... Anyone, really.
July 3, 2015
Furkid Friday - July 3rd 2015 (FD)
Hi there humans, rodents, and readers of any other species.
This is Jenks the degu.
Jasper, Joshua and I got in to a really big fight on Saturday.
I don't remember what it was about, and the humans haven't a clue, so there's no point asking them, but it was bad enough that I have some scratches on my face, and Jasper and Joshua have a nasty cut that goes from their mouth right up to their ear (one on one side of his face, the other on the other side).
My scratches aren't too bad, and started healing quickly, but the humans were worried enough about Jasper and Joshua that they called the vet; who told them to just clean the cuts, and keep an eye on them in case they got an infection.
Jasper got really quiet, which worried the humans, but they were more worried by Joshua, who had a bit of a temperature, was refusing food (even peanuts), and just kept laying on the floor of the cage and crying.
The humans were half convinced Joshua at least wasn't going to make it to Sunday, and when we were all a bit more sleepy than normal on Sunday morning, the Mummy human was worried enough that she came and nudged us all awake, just to make sure we were all still alive; something she doesn't usually do, since she prefers to leave us alone if we're sleepy and quiet.
We complained about being woken, of course, but she gave us some Cheerios, so we decided to forgive her for waking us up, ate our Cheerios, and went back to bed for a while.
I was back to my old self by lunch time on Sunday, and Jasper and Joshua were back to their old selves by Sunday evening. Also, their wounds had closed over by that point, and Joshua's temperature had gone back down to normal. Plus, the humans could see we were all eating well again by that point; even Joshua.
So it all turned out OK in the end.
The humans say they wish we could have all been more like Jacob though, since Jacob does all he can to avoid fighting... He was the only one of us not involved, and not marked by the fight. Jacob usually goes to talk to our gerbil brother, Bilbo, or hides in the nesting box when the rest of us are fighting. He was quick enough to get in on some cuddles from the humans when they were checking us and cleaning our wounds though.
Squeak soon,
Jenks
This is Jenks the degu.
Jasper, Joshua and I got in to a really big fight on Saturday.
I don't remember what it was about, and the humans haven't a clue, so there's no point asking them, but it was bad enough that I have some scratches on my face, and Jasper and Joshua have a nasty cut that goes from their mouth right up to their ear (one on one side of his face, the other on the other side).
My scratches aren't too bad, and started healing quickly, but the humans were worried enough about Jasper and Joshua that they called the vet; who told them to just clean the cuts, and keep an eye on them in case they got an infection.
Jasper got really quiet, which worried the humans, but they were more worried by Joshua, who had a bit of a temperature, was refusing food (even peanuts), and just kept laying on the floor of the cage and crying.
The humans were half convinced Joshua at least wasn't going to make it to Sunday, and when we were all a bit more sleepy than normal on Sunday morning, the Mummy human was worried enough that she came and nudged us all awake, just to make sure we were all still alive; something she doesn't usually do, since she prefers to leave us alone if we're sleepy and quiet.
We complained about being woken, of course, but she gave us some Cheerios, so we decided to forgive her for waking us up, ate our Cheerios, and went back to bed for a while.
I was back to my old self by lunch time on Sunday, and Jasper and Joshua were back to their old selves by Sunday evening. Also, their wounds had closed over by that point, and Joshua's temperature had gone back down to normal. Plus, the humans could see we were all eating well again by that point; even Joshua.
So it all turned out OK in the end.
The humans say they wish we could have all been more like Jacob though, since Jacob does all he can to avoid fighting... He was the only one of us not involved, and not marked by the fight. Jacob usually goes to talk to our gerbil brother, Bilbo, or hides in the nesting box when the rest of us are fighting. He was quick enough to get in on some cuddles from the humans when they were checking us and cleaning our wounds though.
Squeak soon,
Jenks
July 1, 2015
Wednesday's writing related ramblings - July 1st 2015
Happy Canada Day!
The following books of mine are now also available to buy as paperbacks from CreateSpace and Amazon:
*Cubby And The Beanstalk
*Filicity The Musical Platypus
*Home Squeak Home
*Isabelle's Runaway Racehorse
*Jinx And The Faerie Dragons
*Mr. Pumpkin-Head And Other Poems
*My Friends Of Fur And Feather
*The Leaf Monster And Other Children's Poems
*The Light Of Dawn And Other Poems
*Thistle The Fairy Trickster
*Waves Of Broken Dreams And Other Poems
*Yua And The Great Wizard Hunt
(Click on the titles for the CreateSpace links).
That's 29 of my books that are now available in paperback! :)
Anyway...
I didn't find many interesting writing related articles this past week, but this one on making the leap from blogger to book author is a pretty good one, which some of you may find it worthwhile to take a look at.
Since I have nothing more to say, I'll let this do for this week.
The following books of mine are now also available to buy as paperbacks from CreateSpace and Amazon:
*Cubby And The Beanstalk
*Filicity The Musical Platypus
*Home Squeak Home
*Isabelle's Runaway Racehorse
*Jinx And The Faerie Dragons
*Mr. Pumpkin-Head And Other Poems
*My Friends Of Fur And Feather
*The Leaf Monster And Other Children's Poems
*The Light Of Dawn And Other Poems
*Thistle The Fairy Trickster
*Waves Of Broken Dreams And Other Poems
*Yua And The Great Wizard Hunt
(Click on the titles for the CreateSpace links).
That's 29 of my books that are now available in paperback! :)
Anyway...
I didn't find many interesting writing related articles this past week, but this one on making the leap from blogger to book author is a pretty good one, which some of you may find it worthwhile to take a look at.
Since I have nothing more to say, I'll let this do for this week.
June 29, 2015
Monday's random mutterings - June 29th 2015
When my Mam came to visit a couple of weeks back, she brought two pairs of red curtains with her for me to put in my living room.
The living room has two windows, almost side by side, so I wanted curtains that matched. Plus, we only had one pair of curtains that fits the windows in this place, and another pair that's too small for any of our windows.
So, I have my Mam's red curtains, and she took the blue pair I had that's too small for any of our windows, since her windows are smaller (the red curtains are from her old place, and a bit too big for the windows of her new place).
Anyway, we finally got the curtains put up at the start of last week, and they fit the living room windows perfectly. I'm told they also go pretty well with the blue theme of the room, which is good.
The other pair I have - which are a sort of peach colour with flowers all over them - will go up in our computer room... Just as soon as we get a curtain rail for in here, since there isn't one for some reason. The couple who were going to buy the place we just moved out of gave the curtains to us. They don't match the room perfectly, but I think they should look OK. There's Disney Princess wallpaper on one of the walls, and the other three walls are white.
Our bedroom already has both the rail and a pair of curtains, so we'll leave that one alone... Even though the bedroom is decorated in pink, which isn't really what we'd have chosen, since neither of us are huge fans of pink.
Mind you, we wouldn't have chosen the shade of blue used in the living room either, nor the Disney Princess theme of the computer room (it's not the nicest shade of blue, and I prefer fairies to princesses). But we aren't going to worry about redecorating. We're just doing what "needs" doing, and leaving it at that.
***
Our microwave stopped working about a week ago.
It would turn on, and count the time down until it was time for it to ding to say it was done, but would no longer heat things up; no matter how long you set the timer for, or what temperature setting was used.
We've had it for about six years now, and it's not been working too great for a couple of months, so it no longer working wasn't a huge shock. But it was a pain, since we'd hoped it would last a little while longer.
Anyway, we got a new microwave on Friday.
It's almost exactly the same as the old one. Hopefully it will work for several years like the old one did.
It's working well so far, anyway.
***
The weather's been beautiful, and the neighbours and their dogs have been enjoying themselves on the beach.
We've not really been out there with them, since we had grocery shopping to do Tuesday, the repair guys were working in the hallway on Wednesday and getting past them would have been tricky to say the least, we had a friend visit on Thursday as you'll know if you read Baggins' post from last Friday, the microwave was being delivered on Friday, and we had an eventful weekend that you'll learn about in Jenks' post this coming Friday.
Perhaps, if we're lucky, we'll get some time to enjoy a trip down to sit by the ocean this coming week? We'll see!
I know... You'd think with the beach being right there we'd be down there just about every day, wouldn't you?
I'd like to be. But between things happening and my irregular sleep schedule, the only way I'd get a daily trip down to the beach is to go in the middle of the night most of the time. Something I don't plan to make a habit of.
If I could only sleep regular hours, I could make sure to free up some beach time every day. But I don't, so I can't, which means I'll just have to settle for being able to smell and hear the ocean through my open windows, and enjoy listening to laughing children and yapping dogs while I'm up here working.
***
There were some fantastic fireworks a little over a week ago. Kelly went all the way down the three flights of stairs to go and stand somewhere where he could try and get me some good photos to post, since we could hear them really well from our apartement, but couldn't see them very well because of being at just the wrong angle to do so.
I'd hoped to post the photos today, but we haven't had time to sort them, and with how the internet's been playing up lately, I'm not sure if I could get them posted right now anyway.
I'll try and get them sorted and posted soon.
The living room has two windows, almost side by side, so I wanted curtains that matched. Plus, we only had one pair of curtains that fits the windows in this place, and another pair that's too small for any of our windows.
So, I have my Mam's red curtains, and she took the blue pair I had that's too small for any of our windows, since her windows are smaller (the red curtains are from her old place, and a bit too big for the windows of her new place).
Anyway, we finally got the curtains put up at the start of last week, and they fit the living room windows perfectly. I'm told they also go pretty well with the blue theme of the room, which is good.
The other pair I have - which are a sort of peach colour with flowers all over them - will go up in our computer room... Just as soon as we get a curtain rail for in here, since there isn't one for some reason. The couple who were going to buy the place we just moved out of gave the curtains to us. They don't match the room perfectly, but I think they should look OK. There's Disney Princess wallpaper on one of the walls, and the other three walls are white.
Our bedroom already has both the rail and a pair of curtains, so we'll leave that one alone... Even though the bedroom is decorated in pink, which isn't really what we'd have chosen, since neither of us are huge fans of pink.
Mind you, we wouldn't have chosen the shade of blue used in the living room either, nor the Disney Princess theme of the computer room (it's not the nicest shade of blue, and I prefer fairies to princesses). But we aren't going to worry about redecorating. We're just doing what "needs" doing, and leaving it at that.
***
Our microwave stopped working about a week ago.
It would turn on, and count the time down until it was time for it to ding to say it was done, but would no longer heat things up; no matter how long you set the timer for, or what temperature setting was used.
We've had it for about six years now, and it's not been working too great for a couple of months, so it no longer working wasn't a huge shock. But it was a pain, since we'd hoped it would last a little while longer.
Anyway, we got a new microwave on Friday.
It's almost exactly the same as the old one. Hopefully it will work for several years like the old one did.
It's working well so far, anyway.
***
The weather's been beautiful, and the neighbours and their dogs have been enjoying themselves on the beach.
We've not really been out there with them, since we had grocery shopping to do Tuesday, the repair guys were working in the hallway on Wednesday and getting past them would have been tricky to say the least, we had a friend visit on Thursday as you'll know if you read Baggins' post from last Friday, the microwave was being delivered on Friday, and we had an eventful weekend that you'll learn about in Jenks' post this coming Friday.
Perhaps, if we're lucky, we'll get some time to enjoy a trip down to sit by the ocean this coming week? We'll see!
I know... You'd think with the beach being right there we'd be down there just about every day, wouldn't you?
I'd like to be. But between things happening and my irregular sleep schedule, the only way I'd get a daily trip down to the beach is to go in the middle of the night most of the time. Something I don't plan to make a habit of.
If I could only sleep regular hours, I could make sure to free up some beach time every day. But I don't, so I can't, which means I'll just have to settle for being able to smell and hear the ocean through my open windows, and enjoy listening to laughing children and yapping dogs while I'm up here working.
***
There were some fantastic fireworks a little over a week ago. Kelly went all the way down the three flights of stairs to go and stand somewhere where he could try and get me some good photos to post, since we could hear them really well from our apartement, but couldn't see them very well because of being at just the wrong angle to do so.
I'd hoped to post the photos today, but we haven't had time to sort them, and with how the internet's been playing up lately, I'm not sure if I could get them posted right now anyway.
I'll try and get them sorted and posted soon.
June 26, 2015
Furkid Friday - June 26th 2015
Hellooo everyone!
This is Baggins the gerbil.
A human came to visit us yesterday. She's one of the pair of humans who were going to buy the house we used to live in, but now it looks like she's becoming friendly with my humans, since she's visited a couple of times since we moved here.
I don't mind though, because she was also being friendly with us rodent types.
She especially seemed to like me and my ratty sister, Skye, and was talking to us while trying to pet us through the bars of our cage.
Skye even got a tummy rub.
I'm not a big fan of tummy rubs myself, but would have liked a little more attention; I was enjoying having her making a fuss of me... Until my brother, Bilbo, tried to bite her fingers, which made her decide that was enough attention for us gerbils for one day.
I was a bit annoyed with Bilbo for trying to bite the nice human, but Bilbo doesn't care; he bites anyone and anything, and doesn't care what anyone thinks of him for it. It doesn't matter how many times the humans tell him biting is bad.
I hope Bilbo's attempt at biting her didn't make her dislike us gerbils, since I'd like her to make a fuss of me if she visits again.
Maybe next time Bilbo will stay out of the way, rather than trying to bite her? I can but hope!
Squeak soon,
Baggins
This is Baggins the gerbil.
A human came to visit us yesterday. She's one of the pair of humans who were going to buy the house we used to live in, but now it looks like she's becoming friendly with my humans, since she's visited a couple of times since we moved here.
I don't mind though, because she was also being friendly with us rodent types.
She especially seemed to like me and my ratty sister, Skye, and was talking to us while trying to pet us through the bars of our cage.
Skye even got a tummy rub.
I'm not a big fan of tummy rubs myself, but would have liked a little more attention; I was enjoying having her making a fuss of me... Until my brother, Bilbo, tried to bite her fingers, which made her decide that was enough attention for us gerbils for one day.
I was a bit annoyed with Bilbo for trying to bite the nice human, but Bilbo doesn't care; he bites anyone and anything, and doesn't care what anyone thinks of him for it. It doesn't matter how many times the humans tell him biting is bad.
I hope Bilbo's attempt at biting her didn't make her dislike us gerbils, since I'd like her to make a fuss of me if she visits again.
Maybe next time Bilbo will stay out of the way, rather than trying to bite her? I can but hope!
Squeak soon,
Baggins
Zigler News
Author and book news for children's author and poet, Victoria Zigler, as well as general news from the life of the Zigler family; furry and otherwise!
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