Jen FitzGerald's Blog, page 32

More losses...

 Rest in peace Sean Connery and Alex Trebek.

Sean Connery isn't my favorite James Bond, but he was the first and made the character the icon he is. His and Daniel Craig's versions are the only ones I like.

As for Alex Trebek--game show icon for decades. The world will be a dumber place.

2020 has really kicked the crap out of us.

Hope you had a lovely weekend aside from the Trebek news.

Here's hoping the week is a good one.

Advent Calendars and Writing

I really love rubber ducks. Don't know why or how I came to it--probably a duck too cute to resist--and now I have a bit of a collection.

Perusing Facebook yesterday, I saw a rubber duck advent calendar!

Unfortunately, it's not the worth the $42, so I'll have to pass.

Then DD saw an ice hockey advent calendar...

Which has some cute stuff in it and is probably worth the money because creating one yourself would cost way more when you only need one of something rather than buying in bulk like the makers of this would do...

I did see some cool ideas for homemade advent calendars, so I might try to put a little something together for DD as one of her (early) presents.

Anyway, I hope your week is going well. 

 Mine is going well enough--I got edits back on the first half of the book. My editor had a lot to say and a lot of suggested tweaks and fixes. It's going to take a minute or two to go through and make decisions.

On top of that, I'm not quite finished with the book. I have 500 to 700 words needed to write a transition scene, but I have no idea what to do. I sent the second half of the book off the editor without that scene, because I need the rest done. I'll have to do my self edit on that bit.

As a result of me not finishing, I'm not going to make my pre-sale deadline, so I've got to go with plan B for the Facebook group takeover event I have on the calendar.

Lessons learned-- From now on, no scheduling a release until the book is done. And no scheduling events until I'm confident the book will be ready.

Catch you on Friday!

The Finish Line is in Sight

 

DD's pumpkin turned out rather well. Sadly the middle part so heavy, it began to droop and sag almost immediately. But she had fun doing it, and I had fun watching her.

I spent a lot of extra time on the book this weekend and I made a huge dent in the necessary tweaks. My editor has everything up until where I was stuck and she's almost done, so we should be able to trade halves this week. I'm hoping by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest to have my issues sorted.

My due date to upload to one specific retailer is November 8th--Sunday. I should be able to get the completed if not fully edited document uploaded. Then I can upload the final version a few days prior to the go-live date.

I'm cutting it close, I know, and I was this | | close to postponing the launch, but after the progress this weekend, I feel confident enough to stay the course.

And for the first time ever, I'm seriously considering a written plan for my writing / publishing goals for 2021 with milestones and due dates. Because I saved money not going to my conference in October, I'm "splurging" on a couple of book covers for the historicals I've had in my back pocket. One is complete, the other is almost done, so I'm hoping a deadline will get me across the finish line.

Anywho...have a great week.

 

 

Happy Halloween

 My masterpieces...

Sadly, DD's broke at a critical place and was unfixable with toothpicks. I was hoping she'd buy another one and try again, but she hasn't yet. I however bought her one, so pics on Monday of her creation.

* * * * *

I'm not looking forward to the time change this weekend as I'd planned to get several hours of good writing in. I'm not sure how the loss of an hour is going to affect me. Might have to hit the sheets early tonight.

I'm close to finishing, but there's a section I'm not sure how to tweak. It's only a couple of chapters and if I knew what to do, it wouldn't be an issue. But working through the dilemma takes time I don't really have. I might have to enlist the brain-trust that is my writer peeps at our weekly chat tomorrow morning.

I have one week from Sunday to upload a final file to one retailer and two weeks from tomorrow for another. None of the others specified a due date, so the day before will work if necessary, but I don't want to push that boundary if it can avoided.

* * * * *

And I did the thing--I voted... Please oh please oh please let my candidate win....

Anyway, have a great weekend. Catch you on Monday!

CONGRATS to the LA DODGERS

 

 

For the first time since 1988, the Los Angeles Dodgers have won the World Series...

My oldest child was seven months old and I still lived in Los Angeles! I was also a Dodgers fan and still am to a degree, so congrats to them.

And the fact that they beat a Tampa team...icing on the cake. ;0)

* * * * *

Jack-o-lanterns are coming along--one down, one to go. Pictures on Friday I promise.

Tonight though-- Benedict Cumberbatch as Frankenstein's creature. Can't wait.

Have a great rest of your week.

The Greatest Showman

 

First of all--Happy Birthday to my Dear Husband whose birthday was this weekend.

One of the things we did was watch The Greatest Showman starring Hugh Jackman, and musical drama and based loosely on the life of  P.T. Barnum most famously known in my lifetime as the founder/creator of Barnum & Bailey's Circus.

It's not a film I especially wanted to see, but DH wanted to watch it and so we did. And I greatly enjoyed it. So if you're looking for something fun to watch, give it a try.

* * * * *

Remember, about a month ago I said I had a hankering to carve a pumpkin? Yeah. And then I decided I had no desire to do so...Well, DD put pumpkins on the grocery list this weekend, and so... I bought pumpkins. Here are the pre-carved pumpkins:

Unfortunately, DD's had an unfortunate accident and a part that needed to remain connected accidentally broke and there was no repair for it. One of my pumpkins is not yet complete and the other hasn't been started. And I may offer it to DD anyway.

But pictures of at least one completed jack-o-lantern coming later in the week.

The cold front finally arrived in our neck of the woods and we've had gloomy drizzle and rain along with chilly temps. Not the fall I was hoping for, but this may pass and our Indian Summer may yet show up.

Have a great week.

Hello Cold Front

 

 

I didn't dress for this kind of weather!

 

In other exciting news--yet another encore of National Theater's Frankenstein starring YOU KNOW WHO--that's Benedict Cumberbatch if you really didn't know--is playing in theaters. I might have a date if a gal from my writers group can get her hubster home on time. Yee haw.

Tonight's my Facebook Live Spotlight for my conference and I'm about as ready as I'll ever be. I've got a cue "doc" (rather than cue cards) ready to go. I have to set up the laptop when I get home and put in my pretend teeth, but otherwise...yup. Ready. I'll let you know how it goes--

Anyway, have a great weekend. See you Monday. :0)

 

Virtual Conference

 

My in person conference didn't happen last week, but a virtual version is going on this week, starting today. I won't participate in most of it because of work, but I'll try to attend some of the online live author presentations after work.

I've got my own scheduled as well for Friday evening, so I've been preparing for that along with Saturday's promo opportunity.

So all was not lost since I published this last book to actually coincide with the conference.

It's going to be interesting considering the condition of my mouth at the moment. But I have a temp appliance, so I guess I'll wear it for the first time. The surgeon told me not to unless absolutely necessary. And I haven't, so I think I'll be all right for my allotted thirty minutes.

Have a super rest of your week.

Little Bit o' This, Little Bit o' That

First--new WAY MORE self-check stations at my Walmart with large "counter space" for bagged groceries. Check it out. I'm very excited for this. At least there's a bright spot while the rest of my store is topsy turvy and I have to hunt down the new location of my groceries.

After umpteen years we have also finally gotten rid on non-running vehicles--gaining a little pocket cash as well as valuable space in our warehouse!

Before:

After:

Aaaand... I finished the birdfeeder bed. Almost. There are no flowering trees for sale at the Home Depot this time of year, so that will have to wait. But the rest got done.

Before:

During:

After:

Hope you had a good weekend. Here's to a productive week.

Happy Fall Y'all

It's gorgeous and cool in the mornings now and I feel the draw to be outside and puttering in the yard.

SOON.

I'm still knee-deep in edits and they're going well. But there's still a long way to go and I can't take the mornings off to putter.

But IF the afternoons start being cooler, then one of these Sundays, I'm going to get the bird feeder / birdbath area fixed up like I've been wanting to since the deep heat of summer and it was tooooooo hot to work outside.

Here's the way it looks now:

There also used to be a weed growing to the right of the birdbath, offering it some shade, but it has since died off and chopped down.

Eventually, these...

 ...will get placed back around that area. I'd dug them up this summer, but that's as far as I got with the project. I have three bags of mulch to make it look neat and tidy, and I'm contemplating buying some sort of flowering tree (hibiscus, maybe?) to plant in there to provide shade and possibly draw humming birds next year.

I'm feeling a trip to Home Depot this weekend coming on... :0)

Have a great weekend.