Maybe next year…

The time has come…all hope is lost.  I have given up on my beloved Mariners knowing there will not be a winning season this year.  Until now, I still had hope.  There was still enough wiggle room that if they won all of their remaining games and if opposing teams ahead of them in the standings lost all of their remaining games…playoffs, here we come! Alas, that dream has dissipated this year, as it did the year before. So, faithful fan that I am, I say…maybe next year.  Let’s move on.

Next!

Last week, I previewed one of the covers I’ve been considering for “Back Track”.  I think I’ve discarded that one in favor of this:

Now...you have to picture that this wraps the entire book cover. The setup of it on the book, the spine goes straight down the middle, with the title and author name (ME!) just under the stirrup.  It's a short title, so that part works. What do you think? I value comments as I have a pretty near-sighted view of my choices.  While one of me likes the pink sunset with horses in the foreground (featured last week), one of me likes the boots and spurs, and there is yet another me lurking somewhere deep in my psychotic psyche that has something different in mind.  I have one more I’ll feature next week here, then make a firm decision. 

At this point, I’m releasing “Back Track” simply for the pure joy of it.  I could write volumes on how saturated the publishing world is right now and how difficult it is just to be noticed at all. It’s not that I don’t want to be on a best sellers list, it’s just...the daunting task of promoting and all of the work that goes into getting on to even Amazon’s top sellers radar, well…let’s just say it’s tiring and I try to conserve my energy these days to do more of what I want to do, not what I have to do.  I must admit, though, that this is my best work ever. It's a longer story than either of my first two at almost 50,000 words, has more character development and deeper plot story.  I'm quite proud of it and pleased to offer it for reading pleasure!

Life’s too short

For a bad cup of coffee.  Or a bad slice of pizza.  Or a bad brownie (yes, they do exist!). But, you get the idea.  When you have a whole pot of coffee and the first cup is bitter, you don’t want the rest of the pot, do you? Same with pizza.  You don’t want to eat more of the pie if the first one just didn’t hit your taste buds square.  And, yes, I have had a bad brownie! They can get overcooked and crumble…not a good thing.  The cure? My Keurig saves me on the coffee front. Pizza by the slice would be ideal. That newfangled brownie cooker that has them already single serve is the bomb! New inventions come along every day to make life a little bit better, don’t you think? It’s the little things that give us pleasure everyday. What’s newfangled in your world that you didn’t know you couldn’t live without until you got it? Gimme a shout here, or a tweet @speshlk0510, or friend me on Facebook.  I love to hear what’s new with ya’ll. 

This blog has been brought to you by  “Fulton‘s Harvest  Pumpkin Pie” cream liqueur.  Serve chilled on the rocks or  pour a little in your coffee…yum!  Warms from the inside out.  The fall days are getting cooler up here, so a little warmth from the inside out,  is welcome.

What’s keeping you warm today? Hugs? Try them! They’re awesome :)

*Hugs* ~ K

Oops! I did it again

Slept with the slider open all night again.  Thank the powers that be I live in a quiet, uneventful neighborhood.  Since our disparaging looks at them across the way,  and our disapproving calls to the sheriff’s dept. to report disturbing events across the street at what my kids unaffectionately named “the crack house”, those good-for-nothings moved out, and it’s been much more pleasant living around here.  Some new neighbors moved in and with the exception of a little yippy dog, there’ve been no more 911 calling incidents.  Let’s move on.


Tiny moments, big impact

Have you ever had those moments when something really small, seemingly everyday things that you usually dismiss or just go on about your business, catch your eye or make you stop and think and it resonates as something truly terrific? Yeah, me too.  Yesterday morning I got up to let the dogs out about six a.m. and square off the back deck right above Canfield mountain, the sun glowed a blazing red.  I’m not sure if it was due to all of the smoke in our area from the fires raging around us, or if it was a planned event.  Either way, I stood there mesmerized by it’s glow and felt the impact of such a powerful planet moving me emotionally. Or could be, I’m just getting so old that I’m easily fascinated by anything, too  :)

Stand by me

It’s basefoot time again.  Yesterday I spent my early evening switching from a baseball game to keep up with my Mariners, hoping they’ll end their season at least with their heads held high, and college football which was greatly disappointing.  My Oklahoma Sooners fell flat and reminded of the Sooners of olden days when fumbles and/or interceptions cursed them.  I’m not one of the blessed with picture in picture on my ancient 42” plasma.  I bought it when they first came out, too many years ago for me to even remember. As little viewing time as that old relic gets though, it will last me well into my old age so I see no need to invest in one with newer features. As I exercised my thumb to move between channels, I daydreamed the advantages of the coveted pic in pic feature, when I realized this is the first time I’ve turned it on since the end of last college football season! Not once did I watch it during the summer months. I think it got turned on a few times just so I could make sure it still worked. 

Current events

Have you seen all of the political ads? On occasion, when I do turn on the little TV next to my desk to get news or watch my beloved NCIS, I’m overwhelmed with all of the politics.  I know it’s almost election time, but talk about beating a dead horse…it’s so bad, at this point I don’t even want to tune in to see anything  just so I don’t have to put up with the rhetoric!  Suffice to say, I have zero confidence in candidates, but I will vote.  I wouldn’t give up that right for anything, so will have to make a choice of  the lesser of the two evils.  Politics has become such big business, I have hard time believing that any candidate is really interested in what’s best for the people they govern. Call me jaded, if you will, but I haven’t yet seen one political ad that is believable.  A case of too good to be true, me thinks. I could akin it all to something you'd normally find out in a field of grazing horses that steams and smells repulsive, but I won't go that far here :-D

More pressing current events…I’m just about cover ready for “Back Track”.  Took a little down time last week after I finished editing to just breathe a little bit and get some perspective on what I want for a cover. What do we think of this?

I rather like it. It's just one of several backgrounds I'm considering, though.

I haven't been promoting much, but books are still selling much to my pleasant surprise.  Who says an indie author can't get the word out without corporate backing?  All books or e-books are available at Amazon, and Smashwords, where you can also get a free e-short story. If you're into freebies, order either "Random Encounters" or "Bright Lights" at my website and I'll send along "LifeLoveLust" for free.  I'm just benevolent that way.

It's officially an all hugs day! Give them, and I'm fairly certain you'll get some back. 

*Hugs* ~ K

The End Of The Innocence

Well friends, once again we find ourselves at the end of summer.  A beautiful mild weathered, mostly sunny summer for us here in the Pacific NW. I love this area, as I’ve often said . Living here is just about as perfect as could be.  I fear a torrid winter coming on, though.  I like snow, unless it gets so deep that I can’t leave my front door!  “We shall persevere” is my winter motto :)

So…what did you do on your summer vacation? My family lives in a faraway place called Oklahoma where it’s hot, dry dusty, windy, and most of all unattractive to me…flat! I drove the long distance miles to get there.  Across Montana, down through Wyoming and Colorado, cut across to Kansas, then taking a sharp right at Salina, finally made my way down to OKC.  It’s a beautiful drive, I really don’t mind it. Driving that far for so long ( two days ) gives me time to clear my head of the proverbial cobwebs that gather when we get into a rut and life becomes mundane and, well…boring.  It’s nice to get away and get a clearer perspective of life and what goals have and have not yet been met.  My day job continues to suck the life right out of me, so I must find ways to regenerate myself constantly, and find the time to feed my creativity.

On the writing front:  I’m back to editing “Back Track” after taking not only a vacation break, but a brain break from the project.  It’s the classic case of the artist being too close to the canvas that had me dreading the next chapter, or sometimes even the next paragraph.  My book writing has always been a labor of love and when I found myself being forced by my alter ego to be creative, I knew it was time for a serious break! I’m refreshed and ready to get back to it. I’ll have it ready for the masses very soon.  With the coolness of fall days here now, I will have more time indoors to edit.  Our summers are so short up here, I didn’t want to miss a single event, so sitting indoors at a keyboard wasn’t at the top of my list.  In fact, when I was away I purposely did not spend much time on a computer except occasionally to check e-mail on my phone for anything urgent.  Work called me several times a day and I’m not sure if it was truly because they needed my help, or just wanted me to know they couldn’t get along without me :)

Things we like:  Leisurely summer drives enjoying the beauty of this great country we live in…ice cream dripping down the side of a sugar cone…kisses from my doggies and their adoring eyes…reading a great short story ( I’m really into short stories these days)…my Keurig continues to delight me everyday…it’s almost playoff time!

Things we dislike:  Digging into the writings of David Foster Wallace after hearing much hype about his greatness, and finding it terribly boring and self absorbed…The Seahawks not being able to complete a pass in the final minutes of the 4th quarter for a win (it was pathetic!)…missing my family so soon after getting back from a long distance visit…disabling back pain.  Extremists.

The Lhasa is recovering from meeting so many new people and a road trip that had him bored, unless we were exploring the pet section of the rest areas in every state we traveled.  He’s tired now.  Several of my relatives tried to hide him from me (to keep him!) when it was time to leave.  He only snarled once the whole time we were there.

What’s on your list today? Give me a shout and let me know whazzup with you! I love to hear from friends and fans and anybody who loves to ramble! Ramblers unite! 

Give random hugs today.  I have :)


*Hugs* ~ K