Celebrate: Sleep

This week I'm celebrating:
1)  After continuing to stress out over the weekend, worry because I was falling behind on self-imposed deadlines, not sleep enough, and be over-critical of everything I did, I finally went out with a friend on Monday and she helped me regain perspective.  
2)  I accepted that sometimes you can't accomplish all you want in the time allotted.  And it's okay.
3)  When you make lists of all the things you "have" to do, don't forget to include these three:

Take time for yourself.
Enjoy your life. 

Be happy.

Do you forget to include your own happiness and welfare when you make To-Do lists?


My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Katie @ TheCyborgMom

Celebrate The Small Things Sign-Up Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=79cd691b-a101-48a4-8603-4d22bb6626d8"> </script>

 Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is put your name on the linky list on Lexa's Blog, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)

Celebrate: Coffee & Freebies!

This week I'm celebrating:
1)  Coffee, coffee, and more coffee.  (Cups per day inversely proportionate to hours of sleep per night.  Yes, I resemble the cat in the picture. No, I don't foresee it changing anytime soon.)
2)  Creating a new pen name "L.X. Cain" for the adult Horror short stories, novellas, and novels I'll be self-pubbing in the next year.  The initials hide my gender.  Most Horror buyers are men, and they aren't enthused about buying Horror written by women.  (Same situation for Sci-Fi authors.  Didn't you know?  Women "can't write" Sci-Fi or Horror.  They're only good at Romance, Fantasy, and Paranormal.)
3)  I revised and created a cover for my short story called "Biggun."  It was sold to an anthology 5 yrs ago and now needed serious revisions.  The writing of 5-Years-Ago-Me made Today-Me cringe. 
4)  Setting up new FB and Gmail accounts for "L.X. Cain." Surprisingly, this was the biggest problem. It's "LX Cain" on FB now because they won't allow normal initials in a name. My first acct attempt gave me "L.x. Cain" -- and that looked like a typo.  What author wants everyone thinking their acct name contains a TYPO??  Yeah, that would inspire reader confidence.  (Lots of people complain on the forums about this.  No one can change it.)  I had to delete that acct, then FB needed a new Gmail acct to make another new acct.  So I made a new Gmail acct and deleted the old one.  Google said it "Detected Suspicious Activity" on my accts and FROZE THEM ALL!  I had to give them my phone number to get an SMS verification to prove I'm really me!  Google and FB (and Amazon) are the faceless dictators taking over the world.
5)  On tons of caffeine and almost no sleep for the past 5 days, I powered through novel revisions, short story revisions, making a cover for the short story from free images, downloading fonts and syncing them with my GIMP photoshop, writing critiques for CPs, finding this week's Foxy's Freebies, writing this post, researching my newsletter for Writing.Com, promoting the 99-cent sale of Soul Cutter (Mar 16-31), and the hell that descended while setting up new accts for FB and Gmail.  But I did it!!!!  


How do you feel about your old writing (or your old artistic projects)?  Ever had problems dealing with FB and Google?


My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Katie @ TheCyborgMom

Celebrate The Small Things Sign-Up Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=79cd691b-a101-48a4-8603-4d22bb6626d8"> </script>

 Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is put your name on the linky list on Lexa's Blog, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)

Foxy's Friday Freebies!

Foxy has been nosing around the net. 

When she finds great FREE STUFF, she'll feature it on Fridays Freebies posts -

• Free short stories, novellas, and novels
• Giveaways for books and swag
• Free services for authors

Here are Foxy's suggestions for March 20, 2015:

Free $25 Amazon Gift Card – To celebrate the release of Shy Kind of Love (NA Romance) by Deanna Eshler, she’s giving away a $25 gift card for Amazon via rafflecopter on Books Freebies and Giveaways blog. (ends April 3)

Free $20 Amazon Gift Card – To celebrate the release of My Wolf Fighter (Paranormal Romance) by Rose Wynters, she’s giving away a $20 gift card for Amazon via rafflecopter on Books Freebies and Giveaways blog. (ends April 1)

Free ANY Paperback or eBook Released in Mar 2015 – Win and you get to pick your choice of any book releasing in March 2015 up to $20. Read the rules and click the rafflecopter link at the bottom of the post on My Homemade Library blog. (ends Mar 30)

Free Choice of 1 of 4 Novels – Five chances to win your choice of 1 of 4 novels (An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, Forged by Erin Bowman, Ice Kissed by Amanda Hocking, or Every Last Promise by Kristin Halbrook). Just read the rules, follow simple instructions, and post a comment on Brittany’s Book Rambles blog. (ends April 1)


For Foxy's other Freebies, go to the Freebie page.

If anyone has a FREE short story (for download or online at a free ezine), novella, novel, special giveaway, or author service, please let Foxy know so she can plug you here!  Write to: laura.6eg(at)gmail.com

Celebrate: Health & Freebies!

Today I'm celebrating:
1)  I recovered from my stomach bug after only a couple of days (and massive meds) -- woohoo!
2)  I received very helpful feedback from CPs in my group and outside the group, too.  My cup runneth over with CP-wisdom!
3)  I have two new ideas for stories! One is for a three-novella trilogy about ghosts and a ghost hunter. The other is for a novel about a dangerous fungus that escapes from a lab and wreaks havoc on a small town (think Resident Evil meets The Bay).  I'm so excited!  I have lots of time to outline while I'm finishing my current novel, Bloodwalker, about a serial killer in a circus.
4)  I got a lot of errands done this week, including renewing my ID, which is normally DMV-like in its glacial slowness but went very smoothly. Yay!


I know most people aren't Horror fans, but if you had to choose, what are your 2 favorite Horror movies?


My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Katie @ TheCyborgMom

Celebrate The Small Things Sign-Up Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=79cd691b-a101-48a4-8603-4d22bb6626d8"> </script>

 Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is put your name on the linky list on Lexa's Blog, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)

Foxy's Friday Freebies!

Foxy has been nosing around the net. 

When she finds great FREE STUFF, she'll feature it on Fridays Freebies posts -

• Free short stories, novellas, and novels
• Giveaways for books and swag
• Free services for authors

Here are Foxy's suggestions for Mar 13, 2015:

Free Thriller Novel – Win Color Blind by Colby Marshall and a messenger bag. So EASY to enter -- just answer a simple multiple choice question on Carol Kilgore’s Contest page. (US residents only; ends Mar 31) 

Free MG Fantasy/Fairy Tale Novel – Win 1 of 5 copies of Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School by Jen Calonita, via rafflecopter on My Book Addiction blog. (ends Mar 30) 

Free YA Dystopian Novel – Win 1 of 5 copies of Breaking Sky by Cori McCarthy via rafflecopter on My Book Addiction blog. (ends Mar 22)

Free pkg of SIX Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novels from FLUX Publishing – To celebrate the release of Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee, win her novel plus 5 others (The Oathbreaker’s Shadow by Amy McCulloch, Wordless by AdriAnne Strickland, Insomnia by J.R. Johansson, The Culling by Steven dos Santos, and Backward Glass by David Lomax) via rafflecopter on My Book Addiction blog. (ends Mar 17)

Free $50 Amazon Gift card – win a $50 Amazon gift card to celebrate the release of erotic, dark romance I Love the Way You Lie by Skye Warren, via rafflecopter on My Book Addiction blog. Few entries = good chance to win! (ends Mar 30)


For Foxy's other Freebies, go to the Freebie page.

If anyone has a FREE short story (for download or online at a free ezine), novella, novel, special giveaway, or author service, please let Foxy know so she can plug you here!  Write to: laura.6eg(at)gmail.com

Celebrate: Beverly's Quote & Freebies

(The bad news is I'm siiiiiiiiiick.  Nasty stomach bug, but I'll survive.  The worst thing is that I was flying through my chapters, doing much better than usual...until now.  Send healing thoughts!)

Today I'm celebrating Beverly Stowe McClure, a great author and always cheerful friend, whose last IWSG post contained a very honest opinion on writing that really resonated with me because although we try, we can't control the world, only ourselves.

"I've decided not to worry whether a publisher wants my new story or not. I've done the best I can. That's all I can do. So, I get busy on another story and another, and remind myself the past is the past. I've submitted the story, no point in worrying about it. The future is uncertain, and I don't know what will happen tomorrow. All I have is today. Today, I choose to write." 
~ Beverly Stowe McClure

Beverly has 11 books published and her short stories have appeared in several anthologies.  Amazing!  See everything she’s accomplished on the Beverly Stowe McClure Amazon Author Page.

Today I choose to write too!! 

(At least as soon as I recover.)

My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Katie @ TheCyborgMom

Celebrate The Small Things Sign-Up Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=79cd691b-a101-48a4-8603-4d22bb6626d8"> </script>

 Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is put your name on the linky list on Lexa's Blog, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)

Foxy's Friday Freebies!

Foxy has been nosing around the net. 

When she finds great FREE STUFF, she'll feature it on Fridays Freebies posts -

• Free short stories, novellas, and novels
• Giveaways for books and swag
• Free services for authors

Here are Foxy's suggestions for Mar 6, 2015:

Free Sci-Fi New Adult eBook – Win The Designed by Kate Tailor via rafflecopter on Mythical Books blog. Very few entries = good chance to win! (ends Mar 21)

Free Historical Romance Novel – Win a print copy of Cut From Strong Cloth by Linda Harris Sitting via rafflecopter on Juniper Grove Book Solutions – at the very bottom of her post. Few entries = good chance to win! (ends Mar 31)

Free Urban Fantasy eBook – Win 1 of 5 copies of Rememberers by C. Edward Baldwin via rafflecopter on Mythical Books blog. (ends Mar 10)




$20 Amazon or B&N Gift Card – To celebrate the release of Eclipse Lake by Mae Clair, she’s giving away a $20 gift card to Amazon or B&N (your choice) via rafflecopter on the Romance Novel Giveaways blog. (ends Mar 27)


For Foxy's other Freebies, go to the Freebie page.

If anyone has a FREE short story (for download or online at a free ezine), novella, novel, special giveaway, or author service, please let Foxy know so she can plug you here!  Write to: laura.6eg(at)gmail.com

IWSG: Get a Life!

Six years ago, I retired. Since then, I've spent between 10 and 14 hours a day on my laptop.  (No, I'm not kidding, and yes, my laptop has crashed and been renovated several times.)  Almost all of that time has been in the pursuit of having a career as a writer.  I don't mean "career" as in best-selling, mansion-living, famous author.  I just mean someone who writes a number of novels, gets them published, and has people wanting to buy them as opposed to desperately begging for sales.

I probably should have a lot more to show for it considering all the time spent.  But I'm slow and particular.  I've also wasted a lot of time trying to please others (like agents and publishers).

It hasn't been a total loss. I enjoy the creative life, love learning new things, and like to challenge myself.  I've met wonderful, smart, talented people.  I've also had the thrill of getting an agent and having a novel published.  But I'm still far, far away from where I want to be.

Maybe someday I'll succeed or I'll give up.  Maybe I'll stop spending every moment on my laptop and start to live a "normal" life.

Or maybe I'll just check the box that says "Remind Me Next Year."


Do you ever feel you're sacrificing a "normal" life in the pursuit of your writing career?



This is a post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. It exists so the community of blogging writers can share and support each other, blog-hopping to cheerlead and commiserate. To find out more, visit: Insecure Writer's Support Group. Plus, check out the IWSG Website for lots of helpful info and links.