2nd Chances

Release Day!

And it's come! Monday is the day the book goes up for sale on the Decadent Publishing site! Whoohoo! And by the end of the week, it should be available on Amazon.

Wow, what a scary thing!

Yeah, it really is a bit scary. And exciting. And intimidating. And really pretty cool.

Who could have known my writing would eventually bring me here!?

Monday, I will be celebrating all day on the Romance Writers Revenge, with a release party of epic proportions! Come join the festivities!

Monday, January 31st. Aboard the Romance Writer's Revenge...come dance
and drink and be silly all day and into the night on the Revenge as we
celebrate the release of The Kraken's Mirror!

Free kraken rides! Slippery tentacles make for an exciting ride into
the turquoise waters of the Caribbean!

Bungee jump from the crows nest!

Flirt with resident hotties or beautacious ship's officers! Challenge
Quartermaster Sin to a knife throwing contest! Dodge the darts of the
newest member, the deadly Leslie Langtry!

Challenge me to a drinking contest! Throw your inner critics to the
kraken!

And celebrate the release of my first book!

After a delay in guesting, Monday is also my guest stint on the Bookboost! Where I'm discussing genre confusion.

Tuesday, I'm blogging on Castles&Guns and of course, I'll be blathering about the book's release. And the two shorts I sold to Decadent last week. Friday is my normal blog day on the Revenge, after two weeks of being booted off the schedule, I'm on twice!

Wednesday, I'm chatting at The Embraced: Scribal Love.

All of this from my mother's kitchen table. She is showing some real recovery from the pneumonia of the last week, but I'm sticking close until we're sure everything is as good as it gets.

Know When You Need Help

Been a week of coming to the realization that sometimes...we all need help.

My mom is in the hospital with pneunomia. She wasn't feeling well on Friday, and on Saturday morning called my sis to come take her to the ER. Now, sis lives an hour away. Sis freaked out, then calmed down and called Mom's neighbors. Who were on the spot, knocked on Mom's door and by the time sis got to Auburn, Mom was well on her way to being admitted.

She is doing much better, after only two full days and I'm heading up on Monday to be there and see her settled back home on Tuesday if all goes as planned. And I'll stay until I'm sure she's good. And when I told her I was coming, no argument. She's finally figuring out that needing help is not a bad thing. She's in her 70s.

Me? I generally know when I need help. About a week ago I looked around the house and realized...I needed help with the clutter. Years of depression and then the heart stuff...the house is a clutterfest. And I have no idea where to start. So...I called on a friend who is a professional organizer. And come next Wednesday, she'll show up and help me put together a plan.

Everyday, we help other people. Even if it's just holding a door open. But it's hard to admit we need help. Helping other people feels good. Consider that next time and accept the help, because it can make the day of the helper to know they helped!

Serious Wisdom

 

Someone actually used the phrase last Thursday…in reference to something I wrote for the Daily Dose of Decadence.

 You know, it sorta scared me. But it also sorta made me feel honored.

 I’d written a fast paragraph on what I’m thankful for, and one of the points I made was that time had finally left me able to see that nearly dying had woken me up to living. And I was thankful for that.

 JR made the comment about serious wisdom in what I wrote.

Being thankful for nearly dying. It’s an odd idea. And I remember when I first went to see a therapist to deal with my PTSD that she said to me that someday I might be thankful for the gift of nearly dying. And if I recall correctly, I replied that I hoped so. But I didn’t really see it happening. I was living in fear and hypersensitivity to ever little bit of heart skipity-dipity I felt.

All perfectly normal. Yes, all of us have skipity-dipity hearts…we drop a beat. We catch up, no biggie. Unless you’re waiting, listening, wondering if this is the next step in dying.

 But I was hypersensitive to my body. And in some ways, I was hypersensitive to my life and what I had left of it, what I wanted to do…and so I started doing, despite the fear.

 It will be four years in April and I can reflect on it now and say… Yes, I’m thankful I nearly died. I’m thankful my sensitivity to who I was and what I was doing was heightened.

And JR? Thank you…I am honored you see this as serious widom. I’m heading out on Wednesday to my ICD support group and it will be interesting to share this with them.

Now, take my word for it and don’t go looking for near death to wake up to living. I did it and instead, just take my word for it!

My RWA Chance

This year, I began my term as the VP of Programming for my local RWA, the Montery  Bay chapter. And yesterday was the first regular meeting of the year.

It was a good meeting. Little did I dream when I went to my first meeting, that a little less than three years later I’d be serving the chapter this way. When I went to my first meeting, I was year into my diagnoses with post-traumatic stress syndrome, brought about by my sudden cardiac death.

I’d ventured out to my first Romantic Times Booklovers Convention five months earlier and been encouraged by Judi McCoy, who taught the aspiring author workshop, to join my local group. That first meeting was scary. They were a very small chapter and happy to see a new writer join them. I felt welcome and encouraged as the months passed. I attempted to offer help with recruitment, but my PTSD stepped forward and I had to back away.

Another year passed and my confidence grew. Meanwhile, the officers of my local chapter changed, the membership grew and then I was asked if I’d be interested in serving. And I was able to say yes.

So far, I have two guests set up to visit. I need a guest for every other month, since my chapter spends the other months on writing exercises.

Today was a good day! We set yearly goals, welcomed two new people who came to visit and laughed a lot.

And I reveled in the chance I’d found when I was able to say ‘yes’ to this opportunity. Reflecting on it right now, it wasn’t something I saw coming my way. In fact, just months prior I would have said “not a chance!”

Why? Well, I know about the time responsibility can take and I would have said I simply didn’t want to take the time out of my day to do it. I was scared of it.

Instead, I’m thoroughly enjoying myself!

If you’re a writer, or thinking of writing, take a chance on your local chapter! And if there is no local chapter, or if what they seem to specialize in isn’t your cup of tea…try the online specialty chapters and explore! It’s a good organization and…chances are it will do you some good!

 

A Mild Year Review

 

Are you looking for a chance to come your way in 2011? Being a whole new year, hope dawns that this will be the year, the season, the month, the year, the DAY!

 

I believe this year will be a good one, but I tend to believe that of every year. And even if last year was a rough one in some aspects, it was a great year in others.

 

I had an ongoing war with my hormones, but hope that is now in the past. My husband left a contract job for another one, but the new on is only 10 miles from the house. The first was 65 or so. And this one looks to be transitioning into permanent. So good times there! After nearly two years, there may soon be actual vacation time earned, a 401k again and group health insurance! Huzzah!

 

I had a good year with my professional aspirations. Got an agent, agent got me sold, 2011 should see my first book available. And maybe more! I saw my name in the Romance Writers Report, announcing my first sale, and that was really cool. I’ve been blogging like mad and meeting a great many people.

 

I think my karma balanced out nicely. With luck that is how it works for most years. Some progress, some back stepping, but the forward momentum wins out.

 

It’s hard to remember at the end of the year that there were good days if the year ends on the rough, and vice versa. But if you truly do an accounting, well…even if the year seems like a backslide, you still learn new tricks, new lessons, and hopefully come out ahead in the end.

 

All about perspective!

 

I’m not one for resolutions. They seem to work the opposite for me. If I resolve specific items, I swear…I will steadfastly sabotage myself. I do hope to do better with my health this year. Shed some weight, work on my stamina…and eat better. I’ll be attending the RWA convention in New York and want to be able to trek the streets without total exhaustion. If I were to go there tomorrow, I’d be in trouble!

 

I want another sale or two or more and the energy to actually de-clutter my house before I end up on the television on an episode of Hoarders.

 

I’m really looking forward to 2011, with RT in Los Angeles and the RWA National Conference in New York City…oh, and two steampunk conventions to make, a pirate festival or two…it’s going to be another busy year!

 

Hope chance shines on your for 2011!

 

Anything in particular you are looking forward to?

 

And keep an eye out for me on the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th of January as I invade the Desert Island Keepers for a three day blog visit! As a pirate, I can always use another island… ;-)