Anniversaries and Other Shiny Things

The brisk walk with poodle muses this morning got me thinking about mornings after.


Like this morning.


The morning after I ate waaaaaaaaaaaaay (way) too many of those "fun size" snickers/mars/m&ms candies.  I totally have a not-so-fun-size hangover.  The whole neighborhood reeked of "morning after Halloween" what with squashed and/or caved in pumpkins (or in my case squirrel munched), abandoned ghosts and ghouls on lawns, and the random candy wrapper fluttering along with the leaves.


Other mornings for me (as you might imagine) have involved headaches, shakes and at times dates with porcelain if I've done real bad and mixed my alcohols.  I rarely do this.  I consider myself a semi-pro bordering on para-pro when it comes to pacing my self, getting just drunk enough and being mostly okay the next day.  Happens more than I sometimes care to admit.


But this day, November 1, 2011, is a different sort of morning after.


This week will mark several Major Milestones in my life.  The sort of perfect storm rarely occurs and sometimes I get so caught up in the day-to-day-just-get-through-and-get-done-and-move-onto-the-next-thing schlepp I forget.  This morning as I sucked in lungs full of cold, clear air and the muses tugged from one invisible smellsGREAT to the next, I had to stop and ponder, nay, gawk at what is going down this week for yours truly.
This is me and the BW...and my "other husband"...no not really.   Well sorta.  At the Ky. Derby. Yes I am already 'faced on juleps.

On Wednesday I will be married 20 years.  To the same guy even. No it's not perfect. Yes we could probably do a better job on a lot of elements of our relationship.  There have been some fairly significant Downs and Ups even recently.  But that's how these things go.  You look at the BreadWinner and go: "hmmm...what was I thinking."  Then something happens and you go: "Oh yeah. THAT was what I was thinking. This is good.  And I love my spouse."  Life is not a romance novel.  It's why we (or at least why I) write them. To inject a little fantasy people into the world for consumption--people without bathrooms to scrub, laundry to fold, dishes to wash, diapers to change, mortgages to pay, lawns to mow, dog shit to scoop.  Happy 20th Mr. Wench. You know who you are.


On Friday, my first (of three) Decadent Publishing OneNightStand books will release.  It's set in Istanbul, Turkey.  A place I lived for several years.  A place I frankly thought I would never "revisit" even in fiction. It was the site of on of those "significant Downs" (see above).  It took all I had at one point to not toss every expensive carpet, stick of furniture and random trinket that I brought back from there right into the dumpster at one point.  But I didn't.  And I'm glad.  It's how these things go.  Mistakes are made.  People who love keep loving. And Forgiving.  And now I'm beyond psyched to be able to channel all my GOOD memories of Turkey again.  I never thought I'd be able to, just a few short years ago.  I am grateful to Valerie at Decadent for accepting a piece that was a little bit cathartic for me. And then it's sequel, and finally a third in the series.  I am convinced you will all LOVE the Turkish Delights trilogy.  There will be more on this in a few days....






[image error] Make him stop or I shall smack him...


Finally, as you all must know by now lest ye be blind AND deaf, I own a microbrewery.  We will be One Year Old on Sunday Nov. 6, 2011.  The months from January to November of 2010 were a huge, exhausting, exhilarating, expensive and extra-specially growth oriented roller coaster ride for yours truly.  And those 10 months were NOTHING compared to the ones from November 6, 2010 to the present day.


[image error] We've brewed nearly 900 barrels of beer in that time (1 barrel=31 gallons U.S.). I've literally run the bar myself, with a few select fellow owner and/or brewers and our significant others. I unlocked the doors, poured the beer, washed the dishes, poured more beer, swept and mopped, counted the money, locked the doors, collapsed in bed only to do it all over again the next day.  When I was able to, I hired a manager, who hired 3 bartenders.  That left me "free" to sell more beer, write more press releases, attend more functions, press more flesh OUTSIDE the Tap Room, so we can hit our projected 1st-year targets. Which will shall, and then some.
[image error] Travis and Dan.  At a beer fest. In charge...oh Lord.

We've had our fair share of drama, arguments, temper tantrums and screaming matches. And that's just me and my brewer.  My biz partners and the founders of the Wolverine State Brewing Co. had a dream. We are very quickly making it a reality.


During this year I have had 2 novels release including my first menage love story from Rebel Ink Press (Vegas Miracle), a ground-breaking "choose your romance" format Novel set in the craft brewing biz from Breathless Press (The Tap Room) and had 3 short stories and a novella accepted by a third publisher (Decadent).  I have 2 other works from my heart under consideration at a few slightly bigger publishers and daily try to pretend I'm not obsessing over the lack of acceptances.  I'm already pondering my next Big Project but haven't had a second to blow my nose, much less start a new book lately.


But to all of YOU dearest readers, followers, stalkers, lurkers and others I say a HUGE THANKS. Be you a fellow writer who's given advice, a fellow brewery type who's loaned me some stainless steel or yeast, an editor who works with me to make decent stories GREAT, a publisher who will patiently wait for longer form novels to be popular and have given me a chance---you have MADE MY YEAR.


Liz