The Good. The Bad. The Utterly Horrific.
Boy has it been One Of Those Weeks...I suppose it's a sign of how busy and interesting one's life is when so many events of magnitude occur in a 10 day span but that whole "may you lead an interesting life" thing is not meant as a blessing.
Here is some good stuff:
Hey! I sold a novel to ELLORA'S CAVE! Yep, Jasmine the Queen of the erotic novel has deemed one of my scribblings worthy and after a fall spent in the doldrums of rejection I did it! For those of you who know damn good and well how hard that was, I accept your kudos. For those of you still trying, don't give up! For those (few I'm sure) of you who think "well, anyone can do that" I say---nothing.
"Lust on Tap" is a brewery-based, menage love story. That's all I'll say for now. I have a revision project in my inbox blinking in neon that precludes me even giving a blurb yet!
I'm psyched.
Also, the City of Ann Arbor in its infinite wisdom and in support of a successful small business (or whatever) has given me the green light to expand my brewery! AND I don't have to pay a "tap in" fee for a bigger water service. It's a long, boring story of "capacities per square inch" and "fire rated doors" I could recite in my sleep but I'll spare you. All you need to know is by getting creative, and having an equally creative architect in my corner I saved my company $100,000 and will be moving forward ASAP to add another 100 to my Tap Room capacity and another 270 barrels of fermentation space to my brewery plus a bunch of other fun "toys" and projects that will keep my brewers leaping about in happiness for days.
AND....my latest and most heartfelt series of novels: The Realtors is on the verge of release. We will be hosting a "virtual book signing" party at the Tri Destiny site for Floor Time, the first of the series on February 1st. Details to emerge but you can buy a signed version that day....
Blurb:
Love is an easy word to use, a hard one to demonstrate, and sometimes impossible to trust. The Realtors is a sweeping epic, encompassing over ten years in the lives of two people who know how to love with their bodies, how to please and get pleasure, to control and be controlled. When it comes to the deeper meaning of the one word they both need, backgrounds and personalities get in the way and while their physical connection sizzles they continue to disappoint one another emotionally. Jack Gordon has it all--money, success, a string of women--but with a deep longing for something more. When he thinks he finds it with Sara Jane Thornton, his world is never the same again. Sara releases his natural Dom, a side of him he'd thought buried out of frustration and unhappiness. Sara knows a true submissive must trust implicitly, something she cannot associate with him, no matter how many times she tries, and he fails. With a rich cast of secondary characters, including a young man who presents a near-perfect foil to Jack's intensity, and who falls hard for Sara; The Realtors series is a romantic saga with an emphasis contemporary life and love, with a healthy dose of white-hot eroticism. Modern, busy, driven characters living lives of purpose and real-time stress, seek the ever-elusive and highly coveted combination --a friend, lover and trusted advisor who will be there for the long haul.
Now for the Bad:I have effed up my upper back somehow, likely slinging cases of beer combined with long stretches sitting at a computer. I can barely move it! Chiropractor time, I guess. Ick.
And, my aunt died over the weekend. My mom's older sister, she had moved to Florida a few years ago, but continued to live an unhealthy lifestyle as a heavy smoker and by the time she had a stroke between Xmas and New Years probably weighed 80 pounds and was five foot eight. We were not close. But I have been talking with my cousins a lot, and it's given a bit of a window into how hard it will be in the coming years.
Plus: I have had to fire my cable in internet provider AT&T Uverse after 4 years of fabulous reliability they've obviously cut the budget or there is a gremlin in their lines or something as I have had spotty AT BEST and completely useless AT WORST coverage since November. Comcast has been re-hired with the caveat: Don't Fuck This Up or it's Direct TV for me.
And the utterly horrific:My teenage daughter has been suffering from chronic UTIs for months. She has lived with pain "down there" more or less non stop since late September. We've done ER visits, had ultra sounds, xrays, invasive gynecologist exams, endless visits with pediatricians, urologists, said gynecologists. She's taken four different types of antibiotics, we've tried aggressive supplement therapies, laxatives, relaxation, nothing is working. We have 2 very invasive diagnostic tests yet to go, one today, one on Feb. 6 for which she has to go under general anesthesia. But I am very much afraid that the diagnosis will be: Interstitial Cystitis. Or: "We have no idea what this is but you will be in pain the rest of your life so deal with it thanks, see ya later."
No lie. Of course she already thinks that is what we will be told and is beside herself, trying to have final exams, take ACT/SAT prep classes, consider college. How can you consider college, or any sort of life beyond the "right now" or incredible pain? I am at a loss and it's killing me.
It is at best a life of constant pain, without any hope of a sex life at worst, completely debilitating. but maybe that's redundant.
I would never in a million years compare this to a diagnosis of cancer but I can tell you she is facing the rest of her life as someone who looks well on the outside but is suffering unbelieably on the inside. And there is absolutely no "cure" merely "pain management" which has its own scary pitfalls. Being the aggressive individual that I am I have already researched holistic therapies, practitioners, acupuncturists, talk therapists and more and will launch THAT wave of attack once we have the cytoscopy and hydrodistention in February.
But what do you say to a formerly completely healthy teenager when she cries when she reads things like "you have to alter your idea of what a sex life will be." Not that that is her major concern. But wouldn't it be, for you? Children are likely out of the question as well, much less anything resembling a normal relationship.
Life. What doesn't kill you....drives you to drink.
thanks for listening.Liz
Here is some good stuff:
Hey! I sold a novel to ELLORA'S CAVE! Yep, Jasmine the Queen of the erotic novel has deemed one of my scribblings worthy and after a fall spent in the doldrums of rejection I did it! For those of you who know damn good and well how hard that was, I accept your kudos. For those of you still trying, don't give up! For those (few I'm sure) of you who think "well, anyone can do that" I say---nothing.
"Lust on Tap" is a brewery-based, menage love story. That's all I'll say for now. I have a revision project in my inbox blinking in neon that precludes me even giving a blurb yet!
I'm psyched.
Also, the City of Ann Arbor in its infinite wisdom and in support of a successful small business (or whatever) has given me the green light to expand my brewery! AND I don't have to pay a "tap in" fee for a bigger water service. It's a long, boring story of "capacities per square inch" and "fire rated doors" I could recite in my sleep but I'll spare you. All you need to know is by getting creative, and having an equally creative architect in my corner I saved my company $100,000 and will be moving forward ASAP to add another 100 to my Tap Room capacity and another 270 barrels of fermentation space to my brewery plus a bunch of other fun "toys" and projects that will keep my brewers leaping about in happiness for days.
AND....my latest and most heartfelt series of novels: The Realtors is on the verge of release. We will be hosting a "virtual book signing" party at the Tri Destiny site for Floor Time, the first of the series on February 1st. Details to emerge but you can buy a signed version that day....
Blurb:
Love is an easy word to use, a hard one to demonstrate, and sometimes impossible to trust. The Realtors is a sweeping epic, encompassing over ten years in the lives of two people who know how to love with their bodies, how to please and get pleasure, to control and be controlled. When it comes to the deeper meaning of the one word they both need, backgrounds and personalities get in the way and while their physical connection sizzles they continue to disappoint one another emotionally. Jack Gordon has it all--money, success, a string of women--but with a deep longing for something more. When he thinks he finds it with Sara Jane Thornton, his world is never the same again. Sara releases his natural Dom, a side of him he'd thought buried out of frustration and unhappiness. Sara knows a true submissive must trust implicitly, something she cannot associate with him, no matter how many times she tries, and he fails. With a rich cast of secondary characters, including a young man who presents a near-perfect foil to Jack's intensity, and who falls hard for Sara; The Realtors series is a romantic saga with an emphasis contemporary life and love, with a healthy dose of white-hot eroticism. Modern, busy, driven characters living lives of purpose and real-time stress, seek the ever-elusive and highly coveted combination --a friend, lover and trusted advisor who will be there for the long haul.
Now for the Bad:I have effed up my upper back somehow, likely slinging cases of beer combined with long stretches sitting at a computer. I can barely move it! Chiropractor time, I guess. Ick.
And, my aunt died over the weekend. My mom's older sister, she had moved to Florida a few years ago, but continued to live an unhealthy lifestyle as a heavy smoker and by the time she had a stroke between Xmas and New Years probably weighed 80 pounds and was five foot eight. We were not close. But I have been talking with my cousins a lot, and it's given a bit of a window into how hard it will be in the coming years.
Plus: I have had to fire my cable in internet provider AT&T Uverse after 4 years of fabulous reliability they've obviously cut the budget or there is a gremlin in their lines or something as I have had spotty AT BEST and completely useless AT WORST coverage since November. Comcast has been re-hired with the caveat: Don't Fuck This Up or it's Direct TV for me.
And the utterly horrific:My teenage daughter has been suffering from chronic UTIs for months. She has lived with pain "down there" more or less non stop since late September. We've done ER visits, had ultra sounds, xrays, invasive gynecologist exams, endless visits with pediatricians, urologists, said gynecologists. She's taken four different types of antibiotics, we've tried aggressive supplement therapies, laxatives, relaxation, nothing is working. We have 2 very invasive diagnostic tests yet to go, one today, one on Feb. 6 for which she has to go under general anesthesia. But I am very much afraid that the diagnosis will be: Interstitial Cystitis. Or: "We have no idea what this is but you will be in pain the rest of your life so deal with it thanks, see ya later."
No lie. Of course she already thinks that is what we will be told and is beside herself, trying to have final exams, take ACT/SAT prep classes, consider college. How can you consider college, or any sort of life beyond the "right now" or incredible pain? I am at a loss and it's killing me.
It is at best a life of constant pain, without any hope of a sex life at worst, completely debilitating. but maybe that's redundant.
I would never in a million years compare this to a diagnosis of cancer but I can tell you she is facing the rest of her life as someone who looks well on the outside but is suffering unbelieably on the inside. And there is absolutely no "cure" merely "pain management" which has its own scary pitfalls. Being the aggressive individual that I am I have already researched holistic therapies, practitioners, acupuncturists, talk therapists and more and will launch THAT wave of attack once we have the cytoscopy and hydrodistention in February.
But what do you say to a formerly completely healthy teenager when she cries when she reads things like "you have to alter your idea of what a sex life will be." Not that that is her major concern. But wouldn't it be, for you? Children are likely out of the question as well, much less anything resembling a normal relationship.
Life. What doesn't kill you....drives you to drink.
thanks for listening.Liz
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