Rambles from the real world

I get a three day weekend once more. This is the end of my fun shift, then I get a short weekend in the middle before it starts all over again. This weekend wasn’t earmarked for writing, but it could still happen. Monday is probably my best chance.

Our daughter came overnight, and I wanted to spend any available time with her. She didn’t get to come on her birthday, so Old What’s Her Face wanted to take her out. Even this wound up being a compromise. She had to go home this afternoon to work Sunday.

When you write a series about a twenty-something female, it’s nice to compare notes with my daughter. She helps with some of Lizzie’s outfits, and knows some things I wouldn’t even think of. I’m good with monsters, freaky things, and even old-school music. When it comes to wrap dresses, nail art, and some of those things I appreciate the help.

We settled for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. We’re both so full, it will serve as dinner and lunch. Still ordered dessert to go, so that will suffice this evening. I had mine early, maybe I won’t have heartburn all night by doing that.

Saw a cool whale-tale Porsche in the mall parking lot. This one had custom paint. It was pink, but so dark it was nearly purple. Doesn’t mean anything, really, I just thought it was cool. It was obviously well loved.

Came home and caught the Derby. There might have been some future book research involved, but not to the extent that I failed to enjoy the event. He never stood a chance, but I liked the name of one horse, Soup & Sandwich. He actually started strong, but finished dead last. He was also a pretty blue roan. Also, lots of pretty girls in hats. That could play into a future story after I give it some thought.

As far as accomplishing anything, after our daughter left, I wrote one blog tour post. This one involves Lisa visiting someone and handing out a poster. I don’t have the poster yet, but feel like I am a step ahead. I don’t even have a blurb yet, so I’ll have to tag that onto any posts I get written after the fact.

We had an awesome thunderstorm this afternoon. Lots of lightning and a downpour the likes of something we haven’t seen in a year. The dogs were hilarious, running out in the rain to bark, then racing inside because it was raining so hard.

Sundays usually aren’t good writing days. I call my parents, mess with bulldogs and other important things. There should be time to pre-write more blog tour posts. That will be my goal.

When it comes to Monday, I’m off, will have the house to myself, might score some quality writing time then.

Hope all of you are having great weekends. I am.

Projects and family

I managed to assemble a future Lisa Burton Radio interview early this morning, but that was about it. I don't actually have a lot of projects looming right now, so I feel pretty good about this. I hit it hard during my time off and cleared some space.

Our daughter was here, and we all had a nice visit this morning. She and my wife went to the mall, but I still didn't get a lot done. Otto was pretty lively, and I admit to spending a good chunk of time playing with him. About all I managed to do was add one line to my list of short stories. It isn't a bad idea and might make a decent Macabre Macaroni someday.

My main goal now is to finish the first draft of The Yak Guy Project. After that comes several rounds of edits on The Enhanced League. Right now it's looking like Monday is my best opportunity. I have the post over at Story Empire that day, so I'll have to monitor comments more closely. At least I hope there are comments to monitor. It's an opinion piece about “write what you know,” and I'm trying to be opinionated this time.

We had date night at Red Lobster, and got our cheddar biscuit fix. It was a nice date, but we're back home now. Nothing too spectacular, just a few hours together.

Party day was a big success once more. It started off a little slow but that was my fault. Club rules are to send in a link before it goes live so they can include it on the tour page – piece of cake. They also want the post to go live around midnight Central Daylight time. I always schedule for midnightish, so that's what I did. Then I rolled back the time by a couple of hours to make sure it was live when the club expected it to be.

Yeah, when you roll back prior to midnight it doesn't change the date. This means I had it scheduled about 23 hours later than it was supposed to be.

I got it fixed about 4:30AM and sent an emergency email to the club. They fixed me up, but it took several hours. I know I missed some of the early traffic, but it was completely my fault. What a rookie.

There was still a lot of sharing, and some great comments. I gained blog followers too. Every little bit helps. The club will tell me who won the mugs, and I hope to get them sent out PDQ.

There may be a week long delay in shipping. My paycheck job is sending me to Louisville on Tuesday for a convention. I'm excited to go somewhere new, even though I'll be working most of the time. Maybe I'll see something interesting to share with you while I'm on the road. Is there anything I can't miss while I'm there?

I keep thinking about how one week later might have been more interesting, and caused me to stay a few extra days at my own expense. I've always wanted to attend the Kentucky Derby, and I'll miss it by one week. I have a hunch some bourbon will get sampled as a consolation prize.

Girls in hats

There’s just something about girls in hats. I can’t explain it, but they catch my eye, and it has nothing to do with how they look beyond that. I know I’m a very visual person, and maybe that’s it. The woman under the hat could be any size, shape, color, or age and I would still look.

In traditional fashion, I checked the television for the Kentucky Derby pre-game show this morning.

There wasn’t one. They always have some alternate channel that runs all day and shows parties, histories, old races, in a big lead up to the race. There are always plenty of girls in hats too. Did they kill the hype since there was a triple crown winner last year? I have no idea, but it’s kind of a let down.

Keep in mind that I’m always paying attention for Lisa the robot’s next outfit too. The network had a nice, even if shortened, pre-race show. I was able to get my girls in hats fix, but may have to google some later on. Check these out:

Enter a captionImage borrowed from NBC

Maybe it’s because they always look happy. The race was great, and congratulations to Nyquist and his team.

Why didn’t I think ahead and order some Lisa goes to the Kentucky Derby artwork? It could have made for a fun post. There’s always next year.

I used my disappointment time to get a tiny bit of work done. I read through and marked up all of my critique group assignments. I made sure to put them in the truck, because I’m prone to forget them.

The 99¢ sale for The Playground went live this morning. To be real honest with you, The Playground hasn’t been selling quite like my previous efforts. Maybe a sale early on can jar things loose. If any of you are interested, it will be at this price for a short time. Everyone who’s read it enjoyed it, just saying.

Then there was the promotion of the sale. I hit it on Twitter a few times, and in the WhatsApp room operated by the Rave Reviews Book Club. I even talked Lisa into posting it on her Facebook page.

I did some work on future Lisa Burton Radio interviews. Before Monday, I need to assemble the next one and get it scheduled. I also have a writing cabin style post I need to get written. It will probably post on Monday, and I think it’s for a good cause.

Then there is reading. It’s so hard to find reading time these days. I promised someone a read and review on a graphic novel, and need to get to it. I’m still working on a novel I wanted to read, and it’s taken nearly three weeks now. It’s a good novel, but finding a little quality time has been hard.

Yesterday was payday, and I still have to pay the bills. We’re doing something for date night tonight, but I think we’re probably doing it on the cheap.

I need to prioritize the next interview tomorrow, and the Writing Cabin post. We have tickets to Captain America tomorrow, and will watch Game of Thrones. Somewhere in between I need to get more stuff accomplished.

Did anyone out there enjoy the Kentucky Derby? Did you work on writing projects, or something equally fun? Is anyone going to Captain America? What has the world been doing while I was ignoring it?

Meandering

We went for a country drive today. This time we turned the other way at Moran Junction and went over to Dubois. The idea was to get lunch there, but my wife didn't find anyplace that looked clean enough.

We saw buffalo, antelope, and elk in abundance. There were even a few mule deer around. None of them were close enough to photograph, and we didn't take the time for a long stalk. Buffalo can be dangerous too, and an iPhone isn't much protection.

We never saw a moose. They took quite a pounding in the Yellowstone fire from years ago. There have been enough years in between for a reasonable comeback, but something else came back too. I wonder if the wolves impeded the return of the moose.

I've been through Yellowstone many many times. You used to see a moose around every bend in the road. We never got inside Yellowstone, but we saw plenty of decent moose bogs. Not a moose in sight.

My wife is running our stuff through the laundry right now. I'm helping her out by drinking a beer and watching the warmup to the Kentucky Derby.

Tomorrow it's a long drive to get home. It's been a relaxing weekend with no agenda. Most of my trips have scheduled things to do, but not this time. Next week will be crazy at work, but I might be ready for it.

Always check the odds

I just watched California Chrome win the Kentucky Derby. I watch the derby every year, maybe it’s part of my love for retro things. In an age where we talk Mach speeds, it just makes me happy.

California Chrome has a cool story too. The breeder bought his dam for about $8000. In other words, he’s about a $10,000 horse. People pay millions of dollars to buy a derby horse. I think this story is awesome. It has an almost Disney feel to it.

CC was the favorite yesterday. He was the favorite all day right up to post time. There is no guarantee the odds on favorite will win, and many times they don’t. It always pays to give the favorite a look though; that’s why it’s the favorite. I’ll probably skip the mint julep tonight. I’m a bourbon lover, but the mint isn’t my thing.

In other news; we put a microwave on our Sears card. Sometimes things happen and you have to deal with them.

I got my fruit tree branches all cut up, and the yard is making progress. I still have rose bushes that need tending, and fruit to thin. I think I’m done for today though.

I hope everyone out there had a great Saturday.