I’ve finally got some projects finished.  Fundamentals of World Building has a cover and should be available soon from L&L Dreamspell.

And, if you’re heading to Lora Leigh’s Reader Appreciation Weekend Sept. 9-12, I have some goodies as prizes for Trista Michaels’ Treasure Hunt.  One of them is a short story entitled, Corene. It’s a science fiction piece, an off-camera scene from a novel I’m working on.  Far different than my romance writing, but I think the winners will enjoy it.

Corene

As a bit of trivia, the character in the story is named after my great niece, and it is her picture that graces the cover.

I also have another short story up for grabs in the Treasure Hunt.  It’s an erotic romance short story.

Imago

As another bit of trivia, the heroine, Brenwyn, is named after my cousin’s wife, Brenda.  And again, it is her picture that graces the cover.  The tattoos are real, and only a small portion of them are shown.

If you can’t make it to RAW, I’ll have copies at the Roane County Writers Festival in downtown Kingston, Tennessee the first Saturday in October.

Now, off to important stuff.  I’ve got to get my cheat sheet ready for my fantasy football picks.  The draft is next week, and despite my love for the Colts, I know the individual players don’t make the best fantasy picks.  So, my team won’t be the mini Colts.  I do like to win.

Jessie

Last week, my boss took me to lunch at 501 Arthur. It was fabulous! Great food, great atmosphere, etc. They had an unobtrusive sound system. You knew the music was playing, but it didn’t overpower conversation. As he was paying the tab, an instrumental came on, and I started humming with it. Then, my mind just went blank. I couldn’t remember the title of the song, or any of the words. The only thought my mind registered was that Dad used to sing it when I was little, and it was one of the few songs he sang. He had a deep, baritone voice that edged toward bass, and he could really hit the low notes of the song — if I could only remember the name of it.

I kept humming it when we got back to the office, and after about an hour or so, I finally remembered the name of the song. You guessed it, The Streets of Laredo. Now that I finally had a name, I looked it up on YouTube. Wow! There are several different versions of the song. And I watched all of them with tears in my eyes.

Then I discovered something that no “Daddy’s girl” should ever have to face. He had part of the lyrics wrong. Apparently, he didn’t remember all of them and just filled in with other parts of the song that fit. So, I sat at my desk, making the strange sound that’s somewhere between a laugh and a choked cry and decided to keep singing it the way Dad did.

Now, here’s the freaky part. I got home that night and DH had the television tuned to the western channel. You’ll never guess what movie was on. Yep, The Streets of Laredo.

Now, I’m not so much of a believer of messages from the grave, but this coincidence was just a little too much to ignore. The song is basically a cowboy who is dying and who wants to tell his story to a young gunslinger to keep the young gun from the same fate. A “learn from my mistakes” theme, if you will. Dad had several mantras, and one of them was “work smart, not hard.” When he used it, he meant learn from my mistakes, or learn from what I’ve learned and save yourself some time and trouble.

So, what do I think he was telling me?

Get off your butt and finish the damn book.

Yes, Daddy.

A little backstory here: My Mom can’t drive because of medical reasons. My DH has been out of work since the end of December. He’s been doing some odds and ends stuff around her house. Her car battery drained from lack of use, and DH bought her one today. The tags also needed to be renewed. Mom can’t find the renewal form.

So, after he took her to the doctor, they started searching for the old registration. They were both in the car looking in the glove box, the compartment between the seats, etc., when DH found something. He didn’t know what it was, and neither did Mom. It had a little red button on the top, and Mom told DH to push it. I’m sure she thought it was some sort of air freshener.

It was mace.

She said he got the worst of it, because it was right in front of his face, but she was still coughing when she called. After they scrambled out of the car (another Kodak moment missed), she remembered that her sister bought it for her years ago. Her sister passed away in 2002, and suffered from dementia brought on from Lewy-Body Disease for about 18 months prior to her death. So, I’m thinking the mace must have been in the car for about 10 years. Apparently, it doesn’t lose its effectiveness.

Lesson Learned: Don’t push strange buttons.

Jessie

No, this isn’t another football post.  This is about my sister.  She’s beaten the odds all her life.

She weighed 2 lbs. 12 oz. when she was born (premature) and spent months in an incubator.  Considering it was in the 50’s, it’s a miracle she lived.

For years, she struggled with medical problems, most of them relating to her premature birth.  Then, after a few years of doctors not being able to diagnose her symptoms, they finally found out she had thyroid cancer.  Years of treatment later, she beat the odds again.

She has fibromyalgia and a host of related problems, but she doesn’t give up and continues on.

Last week, she went in for a sleep study.  Most people stop breathing about 5 times during the night.  My sister?  Over 200.  She received her C-Pap machine today.  Most people with undiagnosed sleep apnea that severe don’t beat the odds.  She did.

So, a tribute and toast to my sister - may you always beat the odds.

Jessie

Is bursting with romance novels.  That’s a given.  But why do people react with a sort of bewilderment when I pull something off the shelf that isn’t a romance novel?  I have police procedurals, thrillers, suspense, and biographies.  I have books on Egypt, football, fairytales, and world mythology.  I have science fiction and fantasy, true crime, and even some Stephen King novels.  And then, there are all the reference books on the craft of writing.

Case in point:  The other night my son and his wife came over.  During the course of conversation, she mentioned something about sound not traveling in space.  I responded with, “Yep, it’s a vacuum.  In fact, that’s in my world building book I’m working on.”  Now, she had learned this in school, like the rest of us, but had forgotten it until one of her classes at UT.  Inevitably, this led to a discussion on Einstein and his theories.  She expressed a desire to learn more, so I pulled, Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson off my bookshelf and handed it to her.  I bought it in hard cover when it first came out, and she looked a little surprised that I had it.  So, we had a good laugh.  I love my daughter-in-law and would never be offended by anything so trivial.  But it is a common reaction.

I read.  A lot.  I, and most romance readers, read across genres.  Heck, I’ll read the backs of cereal boxes, product labels…anything really, if it has words.  And if the words are interesting, whether they relate to romance or Romania, they will probably end up on my bookshelf.

Jessie

So, I’ve been playing around with my garden on MySpace and tending other gardens.  It’s become addictive.  Especially for someone who could kill a plastic plant.  I don’t know how I ended up with such brown thumbs, Dad could grow anything.  Mom had a house plant once that died.  Oh, she had tried to save it, but in the end the poor thing looked like something out of a wasteland.  Dad found it in the garage and within a few weeks, he had it looking beautiful.  Don’t get me wrong, Mom does well with most plants,  and so does my sister.  Me?  I don’t even look at plants for fear I’ll destroy them.

But I love looking at the gardens on MySpace.  Some of the people there have absolutely beautiful designs and are very imaginative.  I’m trying, and I have an idea for a design.  Something in memory of Dad.

Jessie

Go Vols!

After my marathon cooking session last night, I don’t think I’d do very well on Iron Chef.  Of course, I don’t have any sous chefs to do the dirty work.  ;)  Even though it didn’t seem very productive at the time, I did manage to cook 15 lbs of chicken in various recipes, 4 1/2 mini meatloaves, a roast in the crock pot, some rice, and the chocolate chip cookies.  The mini meatloaf pans are great for cooking for 2 people.  They’re just enough for 2 servings.  None of the remaining office stuff got done.

The day job has been hectic for the past couple of weeks, which is what prompted the once a month cooking experiment.  All I want to do when I get home at night is plop down somewhere and stay there.  No cooking, no housecleaning, just a little television and a little Civ IV.  (Which I’m still not really any good at, but I do keep trying.)

Jessie

That’s what I feel like as I gear up to do a couple hours of cooking tonight. I envision myself standing over the stove with lots of bubbly pots and smoking pans. Hopefully, the pans won’t smoke.

I have a good variety of chicken, seafood, beef, turkey, and pork to start, and a few new recipes to try. I’ve also got some old standby recipes. Tonight, it’ll be mostly chicken and spaghetti. The easy dishes. Some of the chicken will go to chicken salad, and that’s quick & easy to prepare. I’ll put a roast in the crock pot, and cook the ribs in a pressure cooker.

The office still isn’t totally together, but getting there. Maybe I can get some of the little things done while my concoctions are simmering.

Jessie

For some reason, I decided this would be a good time to get some things done around the house. Yesterday, I decided to rearrange my office and managed to get a good portion of it completed. Unfortunately, most of the books are still piled in the floor, but I am making progress. I’m also very sore. I only have a few things to move, cables & wires to put back, then all the books will go back on the shelves.

I’m also going to give once a month cooking a try. DH & I are working some crazy hours and fast food just isn’t an option anymore. Not with a blocked carotid artery, DH has gotta cut the bad stuff out. No matter how tempting it is when you don’t leave the office until after 6:00.

So, if things go the way I’m planning, office tonight, grocery shopping tomorrow night, and cooking like mad on Wednesday & Thursday nights. Friday night is for rest and Stargate-Atlantis. The boss will also be out of the office on Friday, so I’ll get a little break there.

Have a great day,
Jessie

Not whining today! I had a great Labor Day Weekend, and spent time with the kids on Monday. Boomsday was awesome as always, the Vols lost (which was disappointing, but not shattering), and Phaze Fantasies, Vol. VI got a recommended read from Dark Angel Reviews!

https://www.darkangelreviews.com/Phaze_Fantasies_VI.html

Is this a champagne moment? Nah. I reserve the champagne for extreme moments. The last time I drank the bubbly was when the Colts won the Super Bowl. However, I might stop and get something light and fruity to go with dinner. Now, I just have to find out what wine pairs well with salmon.

Jessie