My kids are on spring break this week. Normally, this would just be a quiet week with them hanging out, being lazy in their rooms playing games. This year, BG has decided she wants to do things instead. She watched movies with me yesterday, has plans for a friend to come over today and out to do something with another friend tomorrow. All while I’m working on going back and forth with my cover designer. All that just to say… I’m busy right now. Sheesh!!
Category: General Update
Page Proofs Are A Thing!
Got my page proofs to review from the designers. I knew this was a thing. I was expecting it, but apparently… still not. It really hit me with this that I will be publishing my book soon. And it is going to look like a real book! Seeing these pages formatted as they will be in print makes me giddy as hell. And a little hyperventilatey (yes, I know that isn’t a word). I’m going to go review pages. And take lots of deep breaths. This is happening!
Suspended
I have a whole list of projects I want/need to work on. A couple of them have legitimate reasons why I haven’t started on them. Others, I’m just kind of procrastinating on. I feel like I don’t want to start anything new until my book is completely done, cover and all, and finally released into the wild. I know I still have at least a couple of weeks before that happens, so I have the time to work on something else, I just don’t really want to start yet.
An Unexpected Turn – Cover Hint
I just sent my files off to my cover designer for them to begin work and thought I’d drop a little hint from one of my original images. I’ll post a full cover reveal once it is finished and I have a release date!
Do Not Disturb… It’s Release Day!
Snow Shadows
I am ready to be done with snow and winter. I’m ready for sun. And warmth. And flowers. But that isn’t happening. We have yet another winter storm headed our way for the weekend. My kids have now missed so much school they will be going later than I ever remember them going. They only have a handful of days left to miss before they are no longer required to make up any more. I didn’t even realize that was a thing. BG has also missed so many dance classes because of the weather, they’ve had to make up a special schedule for make up classes or these poor kids won’t know their routines for recital.
I try really hard to not wish for tomorrow to get here. Trying instead to enjoy the day I have in front of me, but the cold and the dreary are starting to get to me. Even as pretty as winter has been, giving me loads of wonderful opportunities for photos, I’m beyond ready to get to the point I can open my windows again.
Copyright/Plagiarism
Some people are just assholes. If you are a reader and follow authors, especially those in the romance genre, you may have already seen the current uproar regarding blatant plagiarism. If not, I’ll summarize.
Imperfections
I have officially completed all edits and proofreading corrections on my book. Now I’m just waiting for my cover designer to request my files and get started. I will announce a release date as soon as I have a more solid confirmation as to when this will be ready.
Flaky
Managed a grocery run in between storms. This is getting insane. My kids have been out of school because of weather nearly as often as they have been in school. AND we have yet another round coming later in the week. BG has had her Wednesday dance class canceled 3 consecutive weeks and will FINALLY get to go tonight. I am officially ready for spring, but can we skip the storms this year?
Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting
Just dropping in real quick while I take a moment before I dig back into this latest cake project.
Like fondant, buttercream icing/frosting can be finicky. It took me a while to find a recipe that I like. Both to use and to eat.
Hanging Out
I’ll be working on cake the next several days. BG decided that she really did want the pointe costume cake so I’m all in on working on it. It will be another ambitious project, but having done a costume cake twice now, I have some confidence that this will turn out pretty good. I don’t have to have this done until the first of next week, but BG has a shopping thing with a friend over the weekend and I need to get as much done before then as possible.
Today’s to do list:
Make up 2 batches of fondant
Make batch of royal icing
Use royal icing to make tiara (template already drawn and ready to go)
Work on more sequins pieces if I have time
Non-Cake To Do: Run through L’s proofread notes and make any changes. Since she said there really wasn’t much, I don’t think that is going to take a whole lot of time (fingers crossed). Get it ready and send off to Hubby for the final read through. ALMOST THERE!!
Beauty In The Details
The snow we got the other day was so perfect. It was crazy cold and the snow wasn’t heavy and wet, so what fell was full of perfect snow crystals. This is one of several crazy cool shots that show the intricacies of snowflakes. The shot itself isn’t perfect, but I adore that snowflake in the middle. I kind of kicked myself for taking time out of working on edits to take photos, but… worth it! And… I GOT MY EDITS DONE!
Crazy Teen Dating Drama Pt. 2 & Laziness
I am supposed to be working on my last big round of edits. I’ve managed to get the first half done and was just starting on the second half on Friday when I got a rather distressing text from BG saying that she needs to talk to me about something really important, that she is probably going to be in trouble and I’m most likely going to get a call from the school. This from the girl that is obsessiveness about following rules and doing the right thing. Both her and MC are straight A students and just NEVER get into any trouble. The most I’ve had to do is yell at them for pestering each other. To say I was stunned is a massive understatement.
*Sigh* Again, Muse?!
Between working on my edits and dealing with both myself and MC being sick, the last several days have been… fun. The whole not feeling great thing had me taking meds that wouldn’t let me sleep. As is so typical for me, my brain simply would NOT shut up in that situation. So, sitting there at 3 or 4 am wanting desperately to sleep, my crazy Muse pops her head up and points out that BG’s point costume this year (a romantic length for the first time ever instead of a stiff, flat tutu design) would make a stunning cake.
Back to Crazy
As has been the pattern since I started my book project, everything is hitting all at once again. I got my final round of edits back from my editor the night before a family outing to celebrate MC’s birthday (not on the actual day). I still have the actual day to work on, which means making a batch of Death By Chocolate, again, along with fixing a massive pile of chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. That pretty much wipes out any time I’d have to work on edits that day. I also have MC’s appointment to get stitches out and his post-surgery check up later in the week along with a couple of other appointments.
So, I’m over the moon excited about getting my edits back, but beyond frustrated that I’m going to have very little time to actually sit down and work on them this week. I WILL make time to work on them though because this pushes me really close to being ready to work on the cover design and being done. I’m so close!
I’m trying really hard to stay focused on those things and not the fact that this is birthday #17 for MC. When the hell did that happen?! Or the fact that I’ll be adding another year to my age only a week later. But hey! Great birthday present, though!
Cold Restart
My house is back to quiet today. Hubby almost always takes the time between Christmas and New Year’s Day off, but not quite the same days as the kids are on their winter break. He normally goes back to work a day or two before the kids so I get a gradual return to normal. This year, they all went back the same day and it is a bit of a shock.
2018 Book Totals & A Look Back
I didn’t set any reading goals for 2018. Not really. If anything, I wanted to cut back on the amount of books I read because I wanted to make sure I did other things besides just read. Based on my total numbers for the year, I think I did just that.
Happy New Year!!
Crazy Teen Dating Drama
Sorry! No photo today. I have been offline lately because EVERYONE is off and home for the holidays. Hubby AND the kids. But, I had fully intended to post the other day asking for advice on a teen dating issue with BG. Before I could, the whole situation snowballed and I’m left with a giant what-the-ever-loving-fuck! situation.
Happy Winter
Today is the first day of winter and the day that my kids normally exchange their gifts to each other. This is something they have been doing for years, but this year may be interesting as MC had another surgery this morning and may not feel up to it when he gets home. I hated having to schedule it for today, but we needed to get him in as early on his break from school as possible so that he could, hopefully, be back to normal, or as close to it as possible, when he goes back to school after the first of the year. Thankfully, the snow in the pic above is from last month and we don’t have any of that on the ground right now. Anytime after Hubby and MC get home would be fine, though.
What a way to welcome in Winter.
Edits & Revisions Round 1 Done!
I just hit send on my first round of revisions back to my editor! Now I’m back in sit and wait mode for round 2.
