The Sunshine Award

The Sunshine Award is a fun award that bloggers give to other bloggers "who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere."  It was passed onto me by Lorraine Paton, who has her first book, Devin's Second Chance, coming out in June!

The rules of the Sunshine Award are as follows: 

Thank the person who gave you the award in your blog post - Thank you,Lorraine!

Answer the questions below

Pass the award to a bunch of deserving and inspiring bloggers, inform them and link to their blogs (The rules actually say 10-12 people, but I chose 6)

So, here are the questions: 

Favorite Color: I love all colors, especially warm autumn tones.

Favorite Animal: Horses. I like to look at them.

Favorite Number: 911…J

Favorite Non-Alcoholic Drink: Sweet tea!

Facebook or Twitter:  Twitter by a long shot!

Your Passion: Writing!  

Giving or Getting Presents: Love both.

Favorite Flower: Daisy and Roses.

 And now, I'd like to pass this award on to: 

Patricia Bradley

Katherine Bone

Taryn Kincaid

Cindy Nord

Austyn Faulkner

Jason Bourne

Hope everyone has a terrific Tuesday!

Last Friday in April

I'm always happy when Friday rolls around! I have a working weekend planned. I have started renovating inside the house. I actually cleared out the attic and the storage shed this month. The spare bedroom is piled up with stuff for a yard sale. Maybe. I may just haul it to Goodwill. But, it has been many years since I've had a yard sale and I'd like to have one again. Call me crazy!

Speaking of crazy, I also ordered enough wallpaper to re-paper the den. That is going to be the fall project. For now, I'm working on other rooms. I have my writing room almost finished. I moved around everything. Painted. Put up new blinds. I plan to add some plants. There is a small room that adjoins it and I'm tackling it this weekend. Plan to paint it and make it my little reading/TV cave, which will be great during the winter months. 

In between the painting and cleaning, I hope to get the current draft of Lady Silver finished. I have reached the last twenty or so pages. It is exciting to be this close to the end! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! 

Moaning and Groaning

Here it is Monday and I hurt every time I move thanks to working outside this weekend. But, hey, it was great. The sun was out and it was warm and I was overjoyed. I don't recall ever being so happy to see a pretty day. 

It has been a long, dreary, damp winter and spring. I sit in a dark, little office during the week with no windows, no internet, no nothing, and it has been too cold and windy to go outside for a walk. However, it was warm enough today to go outside and walk around the block. That was such a blessing. This is the first job I've ever had that I feel like I'm "doing time." Fortunately, I know it won't be long-term. A few more months and I'm breaking out one way or the other!

Over the weekend, I worked on the historical. I am close to being finished with this round of revisions and this is the final version. I will have to go through it once more to polish up a few things, but there will be no more major revisions. I am finally pleased with the book. 

Frankly, my dear, it took a lot to get there but it is the book I want it to be. 

Friday and Feeling Good For A Change

Okay, so I've been sick for a few weeks. Actually almost 2 months and I finally went to the doctor this week. It appears I have allergic bronchitis and the shot they gave me seems to have helped a lot. I had forgot what it was like to breathe normally. I am hoping when the sun comes out, and surely that will be soon, and the dampness in the air passes, I will feel much better. 

Overall, I can't complain about the week though. My birthday was yesterday and it was a good day. Heard from family and received good wishes from lots of people. It reminded me of how easy communication is now with the internet and text messages. I got a couple of Amazon gift cards, which is the best gift ever. 

I'm looking forward to tomorrow and getting back to work on Lady Silver. I would say this is the last couple of chapters of the book. I'm excited and a little sad. I have lived with these characters so long that I don't want to let go of them. But they may show up in some other books. Plus, I have two short stories that I want to write as well. 

So little time to follow one's heart!  

Living the Dream

I did have a busy weekend despite the cold. Did a lot of work on my current WIP, which I'm very happy with. I think out of all the stories I've written, this one is my favorite. It seems like it has taken me forever but I actually don't get to write that much during week. For the past couple of years, I have been writing on the weekends so that means I only have like 8 days a month of true writing days and on those days, I also have to do laundry, clean house, and shop. I actually hadn't thought of the fact that I only get to write about a week a month until yesterday. So, I don't guess I have done so poorly after all.

I am hoping the time will come when I will have the opportunity to write every day. Once I was that fortunate. I actually lost my job and so for a brief time, I was unemployed. I got to write every day. I have a journal I kept of that brief time period, which was only about 4 months, but it was the best time of my life because I got to live the dream.

It's vital to make writing a priority. One at the top of your list. Writing is hard work. It is demanding, time-consuming, and must come first. It is work that you have to do alone. No one can sit down and write your stories but you. Yet, if writing is your great passion, the hard work will be a labor of love. Otherwise, I can't imagine it. I'll admit that if I could give up writing, I probably would because there is nothing easy about it.

But it is an integral part of my being that I'll probably write as long as I can mentally and physically. I actually don't know what I would do without my characters, without the stories that are with me all day long. They have been with me since I was a child.

Frankly my dear, I know when the stories are gone, I will be gone.