Pushing 200 Blog Posts

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. Thank you for stopping by for post 199. We're approaching a bit of a milestone, aren't we? Now, I would have been to 200 much sooner had I posted more often; however, I learned a long time ago that with my time constraints I had time only for posting once a week and visiting the sites of others with what little time remained. The other thing is I also don’t offer advice. I never really felt qualified to be doing that. I share what I’ve been up to and where I’ve been – with regard to this writing career; I clue you in on what I’ve been reading, watching or listening to. Really, until I feel the day has come that I deserve a full website, I’ll just use this place. Some will offer that having an official website just conveys how professional one is – and I get that. It just gets back to that time thing…

With hitting this number comes the opportunity to offer giveaways. I think I will do that, but not just yet. There’s simply too much in flux at the moment. The fabulous author/cover artist Maria Zannini is putting the finishing touches on brand new covers for my first two books as we prepare to do the big cover reveal on book three. I would counsel patience in this matter, but I can hardly stand it either. *laughs*

Let’s get back to the issue of time constraints again. This new job I just transferred into has really thrown me. It’s going to be great once I fully settle in, but in the meantime it has blown up my routine. I worked from 7 am to 7 pm my first two days in this gig. I haven’t seen my treadmill since last Tuesday and I have barely touched this laptop. If you don’t catch me prowling about your blogs or hear from me across the social networks – you’ll know why! During the week I barely had time to check my iPhone. I have two more days to work with the outgoing supervisor this week, but then I am on my own. There are so many new things to learn that I feel as if I’m cramming for a big final…

When the new facility becomes smaller in my eyes and I set up my routines, life should be so much better…and you should mercifully hear no further whining from me. *crosses fingers* I pray once we get into the 200's there will be much more discussion over new covers and new interest in my first two crossover vampire books, followed by the release of my Paranormal Romance which I really am excited to present to you, a secret collaborative writing project and much more. Big things are coming. I promise.

I’ve learned quite a lot over these past few years, as I know we all have. There really is so much to learn, isn’t there? On the other hand, it is all so very exciting, too. No matter how successful each of us are, we’re really living the dream.

We are living the dream, aren’t we? And we have made so many new friends to help us celebrate along the way. Thanks, you guys.

We’ll talk soon.

Day Trippin'

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. How’s it going? I hope you had a Happy Easter, a nice long weekend or are simply doing well. I won’t take up too much of your time this week. There really isn’t much to tell…

There has been a delay with regard to getting started with the editing on my latest offering. I’m told it should get started very soon. Once I have a feel for how long that process might take I will begin sending out the information on the cover reveal for it. My thanks to all who have asked to be involved in this project. I appreciate the heck out of you for doing so. If you have yet to sign up and would love to be considered, please just let me know here in the comments. I’m easy. I will send out an e-mail with the blurbs and cover of my new book. It is a paranormal romance for those of you who have been away in writer’s cave or parts unknown. The cover is gorgeous, but you can see that for yourselves when I send it to you. If for some reason you change your mind or are unable to be involved – no worries.

For those who heard that I am transferring positions at the day job, I spent part of last week at the new facility and will spend a couple more days there training before taking hold of the reins, as it were, on April 8^th. It is a cold storage that my company bought a few years ago. It has a handful of production lines in it and a lot less people. The difference here is I get to smash my dreadful alarm clock and get up with the sun. *grins* The ten years I spent getting up before God did (3 am) seem to be over. I will be acting manager at this place, in charge of nearly everything except the maintenance. I’ll let you know how it goes…

My family took advantage of the long Easter weekend and took a day trip to the coast. We live in the California Central Valley so it’s only a three hour drive to get anywhere. As hot as it gets in the summer, the fact that we are that close to everything makes it really a great place to live. Anyway, we started our day in Morro Bay. We had lunch there and did some window shopping. At the bottom of this post you will find a photo of a bar here because I used the real-life location in my second novel, Flash Point. We then moved down the coast and stopped in San Luis Obispo. My oldest son visits there with his pals all the time and wanted to show us his hang-outs. There’s a record store there that is pretty famous: Boo Boo Records. It has a little bit of everything. We left with a handful of cds: a re-mastered version of Boston’s first album and Black Sabbath’s first album for me since I couldn't seem to get it on iTunes. We then headed to Pismo Beach for dinner and the famous Splash Café. We had the award winning Clam Chowder Bread bowl as you can see.

All in all it was a nice day. It was cold and cloudy near the water at both Morro Bay and Pismo, but SLO was nice. The four of us had a good time and we got back home safely at about 10 pm. Have any of you locals been to any of these places? I’d love to hear about it.

We’ll talk soon. 

The Dawning of a New Day

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. I hope you’ve had a good week, and that the new one treats you equally well. Everyone here is well. That list includes my teacher wife, my 15 year old son, my 18 year old son and me. My wife also coaches track this time of year which makes for some long days. The boys come and go with schedules that get harder and harder to remember seemingly every week. They are doing well in their respective schools, are involved in music programs, as well as church, and don’t get into any trouble. Their bedrooms look like war zones, and I cringe every time I glance inside; however, if that’s all I have to complain about, than life is good! Am I right?

As for me, my last week and a half has been crazier than usual. It all began with me simply attempting to perform my daily schedule, all the while plotting the schedule of my new book. I want to build a slow buzz over the course of spring/summer until the eventual release. The cover’s done and frigging awesome, so I want to build a buzz for the reveal. However, I want to make sure I get completely through the editing phase before I get too far ahead of myself with that. Then there’s formatting and researching reviewers for arcs, etc, etc.

That’s when the Plant Manager at my day job pulled me to the side and informed me that there was an opportunity to change jobs.

What?

If you’ve been around me enough you have no doubt heard me whine about my 3 am alarm, my 3:45 am start time, my 11 hours, and more recently about working Saturdays. Well, I work as an Administrative Supervisor in the Packaging Department for Sun-Maid Growers of California - the lady on the red box. Now I was being offered a chance to transfer to another facility that we own and operate that’s just down the road from the main plant. I would go from 100+ employees to about 20-30. It would also be a lot less production lines and items. However, although it would be lateral for the moment, it is basically running the entire facility myself (Processing, Packaging, Inventories, Sanitation, Shipping, Quality – everything except the Maintenance). I’ll have a second Supervisor who handles that part.

So, why am I telling you all of this? Because after dealing with the prospect of having to interview with some Managers, the Plant Manager and the Vice President, and all the stress of that – I got the job. In a few short weeks my schedule will be more like 7 am to 5 pm. Hopefully this will be much better for everything I’m currently juggling, and there will be much less whining. Of course, I can’t promise you anything. *evil grins*

 

My thanks to all who’ve signed up for a cover reveal that should occur sometime in late April or early May. It will all depend on the editing process. I’m still looking for more help there, so let me know in the comments. My plan is to reveal the cover and blurb to you well in advance, and allow you to make the decision to be involved or not once you’ve seen it. Trust me. This cover is gorgeous! You will not be disappointed. I’ll leave you once again with a short blurb for the Paranormal Romance that I'm calling, Seeing Ghosts.

  

Seeing Ghosts

Paul Herrera finds himself bequeathed a mysterious old house near the California central coast by a deceased aunt he never knew. The woman who shows it to him is the spitting image of his wife, taken from him three years before in a senseless car accident which also took his unborn son. While he deals with the ghosts of a past he cannot let go, there are new ghosts Paul must deal with - alone for the week in the expansive two-story house that he will soon discover holds many secrets. Eventually, he will see that he is surrounded by ghosts as he struggles to hold onto the only thing that he has left in this world - his sanity.

 

 We’ll talk soon.