Updates

What a week! Again.

First off, I am making progress with Breakout Heat. Catching a lot of errors from one of my beta readers before I send it off to my mentor.

When the Runway Went South is making slow progress so I can begin the sequel.

Hurricane Harvey has arrived. At first, I offered to be a host to my friends from PA who now live in Corpus Christie but it's a 7 hour drive for them. They were able to find a hotel in a town about three hours west of San Antonio.

It amazes me how many people thought I was in danger and I thank them for their prayers. I redirected the prayers to the folks 400 miles south of me.

We're getting bands of rain from the storm but nothing severe. Clouds, a quick downburst and then it's over. I can live with that.

More car problems with my husband's car, his baby. We were out Friday night with friends who live about an hour away from us when we heard this rumbling noise which we're guessing its the struts again.

Which means tomorrow, I have to drop it off at the repair shop, while he takes my car to work and then I use my daughter's car.

We have a dead tree out front that needs to come down. We don't have a saw to handle the job, so I'll have to call my trusted Romeo to help us out. Never a dull moment!

Which is why I need to write that sequel!!

Lois :)

Staying Focused

I don't know how other authors do it, but I need to stay focused on completing my books. I'm currently editing my NHRA book while editing my first book so I can make a sequel to it. It's no longer available and this is the time to clean up the gross mistakes that were made. The editing was terrible and I'm ashamed it got published the way it did. Maybe it was because it was my first book to be published and I made beginner's mistakes, I didn't know but I know now!

What is causing my distractions? Let's see. Sundays are my days of rest. I putter around the house watering my house plants, winding my antique clocks, doing word puzzles and reading.

My week days are devoted to an hour and a half work out and weather permitting, swimming laps in the pool. I do two loads of laundry a day which is fast for me because I can work while doing that.

Mondays, I go to the library in the morning and work on my books until noon. After lunch, I go back to author work at home.

Tuesdays it seems that's when things go downhill. My husband is not a morning person. Even though I lay things out on the counter for him to take to work, it seems he always forgets something important. This week it was his phone. It's been his wallet a couple of times as well. He can't leave the office so I have to make the trek to his work which cuts out an hour of my day. Now I have to play catch up.

We've had the wettest August I've ever experienced in my eight years of Texas. The storms are incredible as well as the rain totals. And let us not forget the electrical issues. We lost power for a good portion of the day on Thursday which meant no Internet connection. What made it worse was the power outage extended to my husband's office and guess who came home to work? Yup!  If this is going to continue, we need to set some ground rules. When he has a conference call, close the door. Same as phone calls. He walks around the house talking on his cell phone. He's a big guy and has a loud voice. STAY PUT!

This week I have made a vow to buckle down and work. I promise! Please! Let my life be a little boring for once!

Crazy Week

My one friend from high school, who is single and has no children told me she can't multi-task. I'm sure she can, but hasn't used that ability.

Then I think about my life this week and everything that has been thrown at me and you know what? I don't think I can either. I might try but I'm worn out!

Monday was crazy. I tried to work on two of my books, but then catching up after three days off, set me back. My daughter complained about her jaw and tooth hurting and she made an appointment with the dentist.

You see, she had braces when she was in college and they had to remove two teeth because she had too many teeth. She needs implants and can't afford them. Once she had the braces off, the orthodontst made a retainer for her so the teeth will stay straight. She's broken the retainer a few times and the assistant came up with this idea of adding another 'tooth' to the mixture. This was two weeks ago.

At the dentist, she found out that this retainer had cracked one of her molars and now needs a crown and the dentist told her that she should make the orthodontist pay for it.

Wednesday, it was back to the orthodontist who fixed the retainer and no, she's not going to pay for it because my daughter should have told them right away rather than wait two weeks. We're talking about $500. Tears! The dentist can't work on it until the swelling goes down.

Our pool. For pool owners, you'd understand. It's our first and last pool. Too much money! It's behaved for a good year but the luck ran out. The fountain and the cleaner motor worked, but the pump was leaking. In one night, I lost three inches of water. I called my pool repair, who usually is prompt and they said they would come out Wednesday. Okay. I turned on the outside spigot to fill the pool and guess what? The spigot is leaking. I contacted my handyman and he said he wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. That does not bode well with me because after the monetary charge from my regular plumber, they are a bunch of scam artists!

In the meantime, my roofer showed up for the last of his checks from the insurance company for our roof repair. When I showed the spigot to him, he said he had a great plumber so I called him. He said he would show up on Saturday to fix it.

Also on Wednesday, my high school girlfriend drove back from our reunion in Springfield, IL and spent the night with us.

Guess what? No pool repair guys show up.

Thursday, I called my pool company and they assured me I was on the ticket for Friday because they ran into unexpected work. The temps are in the upper 90's and with the pool not running, you can have green or black algae which is hard to correct. I'm not a happy camper.

I wait Friday for the repair men and by two o'clock, I'm fuming. I called the manager and I was not nice. She promised she would have a technician out there first thing Saturday morning. I replied that I have been told that for the last three days! Why should I believe her?

Saturday, lo and behold! The repair man shows up at 9 am. I know who he is. He used to be a pool cleaner and is now learning how to be a technician. He looks at it and tells me what needs to be done. He takes off in his work van and comes back with the senior technician, whom I know very well. It takes them until 3:30 to fix it.

In the mean time, where is the plumber? No word, nothing. At 4 pm, the heavens open up and it rains. I don't think he's going to make it. Call me to tell me he can't make it? Ha! We lost power seven times last night.

Can I please have a week where there is no drama? I know things could be worse and I thank God they aren't, but still....

More Characters are Surfacing

I told you that I would attend my XX (ha ha) High School reunion and I did. In Springfield, IL.  I had more fun than I thought I would. There were about three ladies I didn't recognize and had to ask them their names. Needless to say, I was embarrassed because they remembered me.

But I was good. I listened to each one who recounted their adventures and I thought to myself, what a great story. Needless to say, when I tried to sleep that night, my mind raced with ideas for a new book. I finally got up in the middle of the night and used the hotel's stationary to jot down what the characters wanted to do. (My husband is used to this by now.)

On the flight home to Dallas, which was delayed due to severe thunderstorms in the Dallas area, I got an email from my Beta reader who said she is not happy with the hero in Breakout Heat. Bo needs to be stronger.

I haven't had any time to talk to him today because of personal errands I had to run to play catch up for my days away. But we have to have a serious talk! He has a great story to be told and has to step up for the role.

Men!