Not been in a coma but catching up after the Move

I hadn't realized until I actually sat down to start to clear out my in box at Yahoo , file everything in the folders and reply with apologies, how busy I had been since the end of Oct  . It wasn't even my holiday season. It was the whole act of rebalancing my life in a smaller space- and I thought that I was fine. I was and am. Still there was a tiny place that mourned the change and a slightly larger part that was pissed at the intrusion. But I did get a PO Box last week, and have set about reclaiming my life. Harry Brown would have been proud of me ( I miss Harry!) - I even replaced some of the things that got accidentally left behind. Some of the other things were replaced by newer and on sale that relate to me more now. ( I got 2 Komachi fish knives for $7.89 for both  at TJ Maxx- Amazon wanted $9.00 each. I went over to look for coffee and literally ran into these at housewares. ) Relevance? Some of the local professional chefs suggested this brand for Henri (male vampire, professional kitchen trained chef, and cafe owner- gee, he could be judge on Chopped with those qualifications!) I am looking forward to using them . I ,later, noticed that the chef on Hungry Girl, Food Network used them.

I went right to my writing and submitted the revamped (pun intended) change from first to third person of my vampire novel, which I have broken into 2 at this point to Critique Circle. Same characters though I did move some of the later characters forward amd clarified the antagonist in the first. But the original was way too long by advice for a 1st for an unknown.

I did do my taxes - and the refund was smaller than I had hoped. I will file them this week. And that included a charity credit for most of my furniture to Goodwill. But I am warm , dry, clean and living in a quiet environment(finally) .

I sat down and wrote my parents-both in their 80's . Its useless to call, they either can't hear me or have such a short interest span that unless I just want to hear their voices, it doesn't work. They do better with letters. Then I will call in a few weeks and they can ask me about anything that they did not understand. They don't have many filters left anymore so it would have been ill advised to have contacted them before now.

So its not all over- but I am sitting in the middle of it, hoping to be re-organized really soon.

Hope all of you are well.

Rumor going 'round town - and its not true!

I recently recieved an email from an allegedly reputable source. It said that DAW publishing was seeking new authors , longer books considered. Inner skeptic said "Hmmmm, doesn't track" . It went against all wisdom written since ( and before ) The Bushama Depression. The email said that they accepted agented and unagented manuscripts. Inner skeptic replied " And one size fits all." Even when I was a kid and started my collection of reject notices, the slush piles were reportedly taller than I. And like Dorothy, I wanted to see what was behind the curtain.

DAW is part of Penguin books. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. This per their website.

Writer beware!

Well Its here

The bosses are catering a meal today  again from Arnolds (YUM) . We are leaving early- I have some things to finish up before I leave today- I am requesting that 10 driver's lic be pulled before I leave. The drivers were in accidents, were found to be liable and were sent a letter telling them that today I would request they be pulled. (Silly rabbit) I will send them letters today announcing that it has happened. They should get them Tues or Wed. There were 15 but 5 took  me seriously and set up arrangements/paid. The other should have.

I continue to convert and like the story better as 3rd person. I think it makes Henri pop more.

I picked up 5 writing blogs to read this am.

This afternoon begins the 4 days of Xtian holiday. Cat seems to have plans for me. Maxie thinks she needs a kitty weekend not just a day.

Hoping to get to Waffle House this weekend . 14 years down here and I've never been.

Enjoy your holiday if you have one.

Lions and Tigers and Bears-OM!

So much has happened since just before Samhain. I moved from 900sq ft apt to 300sq ft efficency. The latter is so quiet. I toolk an agreed judgement to get out of my lease from the other place. I have 12 and 1/2 years till retirement at 72- I am unlikely to buy anything significant.

I am converting my book from 1st to 3rd person- which I find is solving many of the holes.

Our GM at work got canned after 8 years. Now my supervisor ( who I suggested get hired as a collector years ago) and HR are running the joint. Transition is always painful- but I am hoping for good things from these 2 ladies. So far, they have shown respect for the workforce. So here's hoping.

We lost our overtime this week. It happens before the holidays anyway and allegedly OT regulation is coming in much tougher. I am hoping we recover it in about 6-8 weeks due to tax time.

But I finally am getting some sleep. I have been able to spend hours on stressfree research suggested to me by real life chefs ( my male vampire is a chef) . The way home at night is well lit- improvement over the dark hill where I was mugged in '02.

We're having catered Yule dinner on the 23rdfrom Arnold's . They catered our Thanksgiving. Last year we had Arnolds at Thanksgiving and Honey baked ham at Yule. HBH did a terrible job . Arnolds , incidentally, won a James Beard Award this year. They in t's and jeans beat all the chefs from the South in cheffie jackets!

Bad news is I have 4 days off end of Dec due to the Xtian holidays . Everything is closed down here Xmas day including the coffee shop and movies. Boring.

I have to do some errands - so here is where I click my ruby slippers together and "POOF"

Technical Advice

I worked restaurant for several years while in college and shortly thereafter. It was the recession of the 1970's and jobs were hard to find. But I had an incredible and ass kicking boss from whom I learned alot about working in general. ( Thanks Sandy!)  I had also been a Mother's helper while in high school for a major chef in the North of Boston -he was Portugese but his family owned an Italian restaurant. I think restaurant is hard work and under appreciated. Its also a job that you can take anywhere. Henri originally started off as a musician but the more that I worked with him , the better I liked the idea of him being a chef. Everyone refers to him a quiet and artistic, he keeps his own counsel. His grandfather who is in the Colony's politics is deceptive and manipulating- his father a minor politician is charming , getting his way by cooperation. Henri is inventive, prides himself on keeping his promises and was looking for a special woman to take on an incredible journey.

A few months ago , I went through a first edit with a chapter buddy which was a positive experiance.
I took Robert Bloch's writing advice and let the first book rest while I worked on the second. Now looking back, it seems that Heni chopped an awful lot of vegetables in the first book. There is only one time when it is an expression of his emotional state, That I will keep.  So I have started to fine tune what he and Katy do in the cafe. I have spent hours watching technique on video and talking to local chefs. When I get to a point when I feel that its time, then will rewrite some of the scenes. I think it will make a better product.

I did the group crit thing for awhile with the first book. Some of the comments were helpful and constructive. Some were just to get points to get their own work critted and some were plain stupid. When I began this, I hadn't realized how hard it was for some people to get their head around genetic not undead vampires. I am not sure of how I feel about submitting to group crit again.

So that's where I am right now.

Labor Day

I had 2 full days off this weekend- worked Saturday. I slept most of Sunday then today, I hit the ground running. I put 62 books up for sale at Amazon. I also have a guitar for sale over there. I started to clean out the walk in closet which was more packed than I thought. Some of that may go up for sale also.
I have done some writing exercises and answered some email.
I have been working 2 new clients to get their money to pop. The progress is encouraging.
There is always time to spend with my vamps. The second novel is coming along nicely . I also learned some information that will make a small change in the first novel.
I haven't dropped off of the earth. Somedays it just spins faster than I can move.

Black Velvet Seductions has a Friday night chat 9pm central

 http://www.blackvelvetseductions.com/Chat%20Room.html

I attended my first last night and I will go back. It caused a great deal of introspection on Ceiling and when I write the next draft, should fix some issues.
I tried to post this before and it only 1/2 took.