Time to be uncomfortable

 This is my first video. I need to work on this if I’m going to post any more of them. It’s just something I thought I should try.

I need to start by saying that posting a video of myself makes me very uncomfortable.  

For starters, I am very self-conscious of my looks, especially my teeth. I was born missing two of my front teeth and why I never got braces is another whole story which maybe I’ll share another time.

Because of my teeth though, I don’t smile very much and when I do, I don’t show my teeth. Because of that people don’t think I’m happy very often, which can work against me. It’s like picking up bad vibes around you which then puts you in a bad mood.  

The other thing I’m self-conscious of is the way I talk. I feel I have a speech impediment, thinking that I sound like Elmer Fudd when I say my r’s. Saying “wascally wabbit”.

And yet here I am posting this dreadful video, doing something that makes me feel uncomfortable. 

I don’t care who you are, there are things which make all of us feel uncomfortable, self-conscious.

One of the main characters in my latest book, “The Truth Beyond the River", has to do something she finds uncomfortable. She is a new reporter asked to go on assignment out of state for the first time. Even though this is what she went to school for, she is anxious and feels totally unprepared.

Here is an excerpt of her getting ready for that trip.

Teresa studied the humble assortment of clothes hanging in her closet. What to take with? How long will I be gone? Should I call my mother before I leave?

She grabbed a pair of jeans, two skirts, and three blouses and rolled them into her overnight bag. Toiletries and underclothes got piled on top.

“You got everything?” Harold asked as she left her bedroom and entered the sparsely furnished living room of her apartment.

“I think so.” She looked around the nearly empty room

“Here’s a map of Wisconsin.” He opened the map on her small dining table and began tracing the route she should take once she got out of Illinois. “You can make it to the border on your own, right?”

She nodded, though she had never been out of the city and hadn’t driven at all since moving there. The train station was only a few blocks from her apartment building, and there had been no need to go anywhere that wasn’t accessible by the city trains.

Before they had left the office, Teresa had gone over the information the secretary had given her, while Harold secured what she needed—a heavy manual typewriter, a tape recorder, a bulky 35 mm camera with a few rolls of film, even a company car.

“Now, you’re sure you know how to work everything?” he asked as he folded the map.

She nodded. How to use the equipment wasn’t what worried her. It was everything else.

“Here’s the phone number and the address for the local newspaper. It’s a tiny town, but they do have a paper, so I’m sure they can help you out. Send your report via Telex if they’ll let you.”

She nodded again, her heart racing. “I just hope I can do this.”

“You’ll be fine. Twenty-six-year-old girls a few years out of college don’t get chances like this very often.”

“I know. Thanks,” she answered dryly.

“It’s time you get going. You can drop me off at the office and head out from there.”

Her mouth had gone dry. “Harold, I can’t do this.” A tear formed in her eye.

He grabbed her by her shoulders. “This is what you’ve always wanted. What you’ve dreamed of. What every reporter dreams of. You can do this. You will do this. You will make me proud and make me happy that I took a chance on you.” He shook her slightly. “You will not let me down.”

She nodded. “Okay. I’ve got this. I can do it.”

“You have my number, right? If you can’t get me at the office, call my house collect any time, day or night.”

She steeled herself. “I won’t let you down.”

And off Teresa goes to report the story which could make her career. Or not. You’ll have to read the book in the meantime to find out. 

Oh, and by the way, the e-version of the book is available for free this week. So if you haven't gotten a copy yet, click on this link.

So Much Green!

This week turned out to be showered in green.

Here's what I had hoped to get done and what I actually accomplished. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is worked on and red lettering is a failure.

1) My novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”

a. Post a blog about it once this week. No, I did not.

b. Post that video I made on YouTube. No, I did not do that either. Technology is scaring me off. I gotta suck it up and figure it out.  

c. BONUS. I did set up for a free promotion of the e-version starting tomorrow.

2) My WIP, the novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters. I wrote only an actual two total chapters for 3,356 words, with 360 on the next chapter, but also wrote the premises for the next four chapters, an additional 167 words, so I’m really thinking this goal was met. 

b. Do an evening of research for it. Done. I watched another hour on the documentary about the Civil War.

3) Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. Yes.

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”. Yes.

c. Do research into markets for some of my short stories.  Yes, actually I did!

4) Other stuff.

a. Work on my family tree. I did about an hour.

b. Work on one of my several quilt projects. I did sew together the easy one – just needed to sew the front to the back and stitch it together.

Dino plopped down on the quilt as soon as I spread it on the floor. 
And no, I did not stitch that pattern together, it came just like that. 

 This coming weekend, my kids are taking Hubby and I to a cabin up north for a few days. I will probably have time to work on my writing and other things, as the cabin does have WiFi, but I should probably focus on spending time with the family.

 I think it’s reasonable, though, that I accomplish the following during the week.  

          1) My novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”

a. Post a blog about it once this week.

b. Post that video I made on YouTube.  

c. Promote the free e-book version on my social media.

2) My WIP, the novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters or 4,500 words.

b. Do an evening of research for it.

3) Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles.

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.

c. Write a short story to submit to one of the markets I discovered last week.  

4) Other stuff.

a. Going to that cabin on the weekend, so don’t think I’ll get a chance to work on anything extra. But that is super-okay, right?   

Oh, and once again, this new Blooger set up is making me lose my mind!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry for the way this looks today, all spread out. Stupid Blogger!!!!!

Have a great week, be safe and stay healthy.  Chris

Jumped in and here I am

 As usual, I jumped into the past week with high hopes and dreams of unbound energy. And here we are, Sunday night, thinking I did okay, but surely could have done better.

Nothing much exciting happened all week. Just life – the day job, the house keeping, the family. We are all hanging in there, as best we can and taking it a day at a time.

Here's what I had hoped to get done this week and what I actually accomplished. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is worked on and red lettering is a failure.

            1) My novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”

a. Post a blog about it once this week. No, did not.

b. Market it in some way. Not really, but almost. I spent most of the afternoon yesterday making a video about it. Will have to try posting that to the web this week.

2) My newest novel.

a. Come up with a better working title. End of discussion, just pick one. Ok, after much ruminating, I am calling my current WIP “Rewrite the Now.” Will maybe talk more about why another time.

b. Write three chapters. Wrote one and a half chapters for 2,105 words.

c. Do an evening of research for it. I watched an hour-long documentary on the Civil War. Learning more about the lead-up to the Civil War, it sure does sound like history is repeating itself.

3) Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. Yes, I did and actually used it as a third post to -

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”. Posted three times.

c. Do research into markets for some of my short stories. Hmm, I don’t think I did.

4) Other stuff.

a. Work on getting the kittens to be friends with our old cat. I think this is as good as it’s going to get. Maybe they will never be friends, but I don’t think the old cat will kill them.

b. Work on one of my several quilt projects. I got one of them out, didn’t do much with it, but it’s out, staring at me, waiting for me to attack it.

The Old Cat thinking "you've got to be kidding"

As close as Old Cat, Dino and one of the kittens are going to get. 

 Not much going on that I can think of in the upcoming week. I guess that’s okay. I just need to stay on track. Oh, and one more thing - I hate, hate, hate that blogger is changing their site. Why are they all doing that? Leave stuff alone. Who needs any additional changes right now. 

Okay, moving along to next week. 

          1) My novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”

a. Post a blog about it once this week.

b. Post that video I made on YouTube.   

2) My WIP, the novel, “Rewrite the Now”.

a. Write three chapters.

b. Do an evening of research for it.

3) Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles.

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.

c. Do research into markets for some of my short stories.

4) Other stuff.

a. Work on my family tree. It’s been a while.  

b. Work on one of my several quilt projects.

Hope you are enjoying the fall weather. And praying that you are safe, wherever you are.

Have a great week.  Chris

A Strange Week

It was a strange week. I can’t really go into it. Well, I can say that I called in sick Tuesday, with a headache. Not a big deal, I think it was just from stress and lack of sleep.

That being said, I should have gotten more done. But I, at least, have a bit more green and yellow. I’m okay with that.

Here's what I had hoped to get done this week and what actually happened. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is worked on and red lettering is a failure.

.           1) My novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”

a. Post a blog about it once this week. Hmm? No.

b. Market it in some way. Hmm? No again.

2) My newest novel.

a. First, I need to think hard about a better title, even if it is still a working title, it has to be better than “Save Our School”. Maybe I need to write this out, type my thoughts and something brilliant will come to mind. The book goes back and forth from the Civil War era to the near future, maybe around ten years from now. So, I’m thinking of a take on something like “Back to the Future”. So, more like “Forward to the Past” or like “History Comes Alive”. As if those aren’t as dumb as “Save Our School”.  Maybe “Gone with the Future”. It’s also a post-quel to my new old spies series. I know, has anyone ever heard of a post-quel? Opposite of a pre-quel, right? Ok, so at least I can give this goal a yellow, as now I have proof that I have thought about it.

b. Write three chapters. Close. I wrote a chapter and a little bit for a total of 1,532 words.

c. Do an evening of research for it. Yes, I’m going to count the movie I watched on Tuesday set in the Civil War.

3) Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles. Yes, twice actually.

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”. Yes, thrice actually.  

4) Other stuff.

a. Work on getting the kittens to be friends with our old cat. Yes, but it is a slow process.

b. Work on one of my several quilt projects. Noo, what was I thinking!   

c. Go out to my mom’s property. Yes, and picked up this awesome teapot in the old family dump along the swamp on the property line.

Adorable! And it cleaned up so nice, just like new. 

Well, except for the bottom being missing. Oops!

With Labor Day tomorrow and nothing else on my plate, I’m hoping to get at least a few things done. No plans yet for next weekend either. Life is on hold right now, more than usual, so maybe I will lay low and get lots accomplished then as well.

1) My novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”

a. Post a blog about it once this week.

b. Market it in some way.

2) My newest novel.

a. Come up with a better working title. End of discussion, just pick one.

b. Write three chapters.

c. Do an evening of research for it.

3) Other writing.

a. Write an entry in my Covert Corona Chronicles.

b. Write two posts on my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.

c. Do research into markets for some of my short stories.

4) Other stuff.

a. Work on one of my several quilt projects. 

b. Work on getting the kittens to be friends with our old cat. 

First time outside, inside the fenced garden, watching the old cat stalk passed. 

How about you? Do you have any plans for Labor Day? Feeling like summer truly is over? And how about school? Have the kids in your town gone back to school physically, or are they do it virtually?

Have a great week.  Chris