A Sunny Day

And the temperature got up into the mid-20s today which meant that the snow on the hill in the backyard that faces south started melting away. I saw one squirrel scamper across the top of the fence along the retaining wall and no birds. I haven't seen anything at the feeders all week. 

 

I spent most of the day rereading and tidying up Open For Business so I can republish it with my own ISBN number. I realized this morning that all of the work I did on it yesterday was wasted because I wasn't working on the correct version of the manuscript. So I had to start at the beginning again. *sigh* I made it to Chapter 20, just over halfway through. I got all excited at first thinking that I'd already done this work so I could just skate through. Not so fast. I'd gotten about 60 pages in a while back so I added about 100 pages to the completed side of the ledger. It'd go faster if I didn't find myself reading instead of just scrolling through letting ProWritingAid tell me where I need commas and stuff like that.

 

Man, was I intimidated when I turned the page to see today's flower. It's a Lily. And it's complicated. But I took my time and concentrated and it turned out looking like a lily. This looks like the Stargazer Lily that blooms in my side yard in the summer.

 

And I finally made time to draw a gratitude journal page for today. It's not very comprehensive but I was most grateful for the sunshine the last few days. Even when it's cold, the sunshine really cheers me up.

 

Today is the 6th Anniversary of Zambaldi Beer! They had all kinds of fun things planned for the day, special beers, and live music. I got to pick up LC and OJ, get them some supper, and get them out of the taproom to eat where it's quiet. Six years ago they opened and six weeks after that everything shut down for the pandemic. It's a wonder they managed to stay in business through that mess, and they're still going strong. Yay!

--Barbara 

One Hat Done

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I finished the first Pointy Red Hat. I'm calling it that because it's an amalgam of three different hat patterns. Because the yarn I wanted to use was bulky weight which is heavier than the yarn called for in the original Melt the ICE Hat, I searched and found a plain beanie pattern using bulky yarn so I started there. When I reached the crown decreases I went with another similarly named pattern because the directions for decreasing made more sense to me. And finally I used the  original hat pattern for the cord/braid and tassel. Like I said, an amalgam, but I like the way it turned out.

 

I cast on another one right away and this time I'm still using the bulky yarn (because I have plenty left). I'm going to model the original pattern and make Knit 1, Purl 1 ribbing for six inches and then do the decreases so it'll look more like the pattern picture. I'd be further along but my hands got tired so I stretched them and rested.

 

Look at what came today! It's an 18" tall lighted palm tree! I'm so thrilled with it. I plan to use it as a display piece on my sales table, with the flamingo sunglasses holder under it, of course. Fortunately it comes apart and collapses into a nice tidy box so I can take it along in my tote. Cool, huh?

 

I spent most of the day that I wasn't on one Zoom or another working to get Open For Business's manuscript tidied up and reloaded to Kindle Create. My first version of KC broke so I had to reload the program and lost my uploaded manuscripts. This is one of them. So I'm reading through it on Word with a paperback copy at hand to make sure I'm publishing what I want it to say. Laborious and tiring.

 

So by getting caught up in writing work, I didn't get to drawing today. I promise I'll draw again tomorrow.

Hey, it got up to 16 degrees today. And it's supposed to hit 20 and above tomorrow. Heat wave! Maybe the doorknob will thaw out. 

--Barbara 

Grunt Work

That's what today felt like. I spent most of the day working to unpublish and republish my eBooks and paperbacks on Amazon with my own ISBNs. So I had to make sure the manuscript was up to snuff, add the ISBNs on the copyright page, and work my way through republishing. I just checked on Amazon and my republished novella is listed without a picture and the unpublished one has a picture and no availability. Oh wait, I bet it's still in Kindle Unlimited so it won't be all unpublished until the 90 day commitment runs out. I'll figure it out.

 

Anyway, look at what I got in the mail today. It's a hand-carved wooden flamingo head sunglasses holder. I think it'll be just the thing to put on the display table at vendor shows. Six of my books take place on islands so it's appropriate.

 

And I ordered some short battery-powered strings of fairy lights. I thought I'd twine a string around my new release to make it stand out. I had the devil of a time finding just a few sets and short ones. Many I found were 25 feet long, way too long for a little book display, and others had 12 to 20 strings. I finally scrolled down to find 7 foot long strings and a pack of 6. Much more manageable.

 

When I was exhausted and my eyes were tired from staring at the computer all day, I sat down to draw. I was so relieved to see today's flower. It's a Crocus and it was simple to draw. Thank heavens. Just what I needed after a long, tiring day.

 

I just went on my new audiobook distribution website, clicked on the sales report page, and discovered that some libraries bought two copies of Island Dreams this month! Woohoo!!! It's a start.

--Barbara 

In The Home Stretch

I sat down to knit on the Pointy Red Hat after supper and started the pointy part. You can see in the picture that the sides are just starting to slant inwards, which means each round gets four stitches shorter. Things should start to speed up!

 

Getting notification that my audiobooks are available from other outlets let me get on the Chirp site, which is the audiobook part of BookBub, and apply for a Friday Freebie opportunity. Giving away a book won't earn any money but it's another way to get my name and my work out there. I don't know if they'll accept but it's worth a try.

 

I got a text from DS this morning asking if I could do the after school pickup. I said yes. He also invited me to come visit at the brewery. I said yes to that too. He was making Allie the Red, their spring seasonal, and while the beer was being pumped from the mash tun to the kettle he drew off a bit of beer from a couple of the big fermenters to check something. I forgot to ask what he was testing for but evidently things were okay because he didn't climb the ladder and throw more stuff in the tanks. He made notes on his clipboards.

 

Today's flower was Delphinium. Another one that intimidated me when I turned the page and when I was working on drawing it. It wasn't until I was almost finished coloring it in that I thought it might turn out okay.

 

This afternoon I got brave and unpublished Christmas at Seaview eBook and paperback so I could republish them with my own ISBN number. Doing the eBook went smoothly but not the paperback. For a while there it looked like Kindle Direct Publishing wouldn't accept a manuscript upload from Kindle Create. I got all frustrated and tried sixteen different ways to make it work and finally gave up and went to have supper. Then I knitted to calm down. When I came back here just now I tried again and this time it worked. Turns out I just wasn't patient enough waiting for the manuscript to upload and also I had a typo in the book title. D'oh! Things go much smoother when they're spelled correctly. So the eBook is back live with a new ISBN and the paperback is In Review and should be back online in a day or so. Doing this took the place of new writing today. Which reminded me that I needed to send off my pages for next Monday's critique session so I just went and did that.

--Barbara 

More!

This morning I got four more emails from Voices by INaudio saying that they've found outlets for the rest of my audiobooks. Woohoo! I also emailed both local newspapers asking if they do local author profiles. 

 

Then I entered two more contests through the blog, Writers Helping Writers, offering critiques of the first few pages of a manuscript and these didn't have an entry fee. Score! I won the first one of theirs I entered a couple years ago and the critique was a huge help so I have hopes that I'll be lucky again. One of the contests is for a critique of a few pages and a blurb so I spent a frantic couple hours pounding out a draft of a blurb for my current manuscript. Just in case I get chosen.

 

Today's flower is Jasmine. I was pretty intimidated when I turned the page and saw it but the book leads you through drawing in ten steps so it's pretty painless and I have the examples to scrutinize and copy. I like it. The book and the drawing.

After supper I sat down to watch Jeopardy!. I missed getting the Final but then so did all of the contestants and it's the semi-finals of the Tournament of Champions so I didn't feel bad. Anyway, I kept knitting on the Pointy Red Hat and got to the crown decreases. Now is when the pointy part begins. It's not going to look like the official Melt the ICE Hat but it'll be red, ribbed, and pointy with a tassel. The next one will be more like the official hat. Because there will be a next one.

 

It felt like Sunday today but then I looked out the window when I was closing the shade and saw that the neighbors have their trash and recycling bins out. That means it's Tuesday. My bins aren't full so mine are snug in the garage. Maybe next week.

I am happy to report that the window shade stayed in the bracket when I raised it this morning so it didn't fall on me and I didn't have to stand on the mattress to fix it. Whew.

 --Barbara

Blown Snow

Since it last snowed it's been windy. So windy that the snow has been scoured off part of the back yard and the snow that's left is carved into interesting shapes. On a sunny day the blue shadows on the snow are kind of pretty.

 

I spent most of the afternoon on the Bowker website. They're the place to buy and register ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers) for your books. I didn't do that when I started publishing so now I can't sell my books through anyone but Amazon. If I unpublish them with Amazon's free ISBNs and republish them with my own purchased ISBNs, I can get them listed with another supplier so that libraries and bookstores can order them. I will still publish my books through Kindle Direct Publishing but with my own ISBNs I'm in charge of them, not Amazon. All of my audiobooks have my ISBNs on them but the other formats of each title--eBook and paperback--still need them. It's going to be a big job but one I can manage.

 

Here's today's drawing of an Iris. I think it turned out pretty darned good. It's leaning a little but that's all right. I think I'm going to enjoy drawing the flowers in 10-Step Drawing: Flowers. The book even lists the colors of pencils you need for each one. Very handy for someone who likes to do things just right, like me.

And for the first time in 8 days I drew a gratitude journal page. After lunch I mustered up my guts and talked myself into going to the grocery because I was out of lunch foods and down to one banana. So I put on a scarf, my warm coat, slapped a hat on my head, and left my mittens on when I went into the store. It was cold but not deathly cold. Breezy but not gale force winds. Bearable because it was sunny. I stayed home Friday through Sunday so I was getting a little antsy. It was time to go out to prove I'm not a wimp. Also I wanted to make sure the car would start. The doorknob is still frozen in the open position, but luckily the door is tight in the frame so it's snug in there and not flapping open letting in all the cold.

 

I sent in the application for a booth at a craft fair in Pulaski in March today along with a check. GBB is in charge of doing the same for the DePere fair the day before. We're also signed up for an author fair in April.

The window shade over my bed crashed down on me again this morning which meant I was up on the mattress trying to fix the darned thing without falling off the bed again. It better hold this time or... or... I don't know what or else but I'll think of something. 

--Barbara

A Quiet Day

I had one of those today. I spent most of the morning goofing off, watching CBS Sunday Morning, and working the Wordle on my phone. The only exciting thing that happened was when I woke up I reached over my head to raise the shade to let in some light and the window shade fell down and nearly clonked me on the head. When I plastic-ed the window the other day I must have pushed the end of the shade in a bit which made it barely hold onto the bracket and this morning's raising was one too many. Which meant that I was standing on the mattress again putting the darned thing back in place. Not my favorite thing to do.

 

Here's the first flower in 10-Step Drawing: Flowers, the book I chose to draw out of next. It's a rose which has to be the most difficult flower to draw in captivity. Why did they have to put that first? Couldn't they chose something simple like a pansy? No, it had to be a rose. Well, I did okay, I think.

 

I added more hat body rounds to the Pointy Red Hat this morning and evening. I think that I can knit ribbing faster than all knit stitches, all the time. All knit stitches should be the easiest because it's the first stitch everybody learns and loves. But evidently I can't be normal. I have to like Knit 2, Purl 2 better.

 

For most of the afternoon I reread my latest manuscript. I started out searching for places to insert more about Janet's arrest, etc. but then it occurred to me that I might have the timeline all screwed up so I kept reading. The timeline is fine, it just gets compressed as the book moves along. It's funny, I didn't remember writing some of it. 

I got an email from my writing friend, GBB, with the address of a craft show we want to get a booth in. So I filled in the info they asked for and sent it off. That one's in DePere about 5 miles south of Green Bay. The next day there's one at Pulaski Middle School which is about 13 miles west of Green Bay. We've never done two shows on two days back to back. Should be interesting, also tiring.

I was hoping to launch my next book, Anneke's Legacy, on February 1 but it looks like that won't happen because I don't have the cover's final files yet. This afternoon, I was talking to the owner of the bookstore in Sturgeon Bay that carries my books and mentioned my new book. He offered to have a launch event for me. That could be interesting. I'm thinking about it. 

--Barbara 

I Saw One

One squirrel showed up in the yard today. It didn't leap up on the suet nuggets or climb into the square green feeder but it was there, prospecting under the nuggets feeder. Right after I took its picture it scampered off toward the west.

 

A knitting friend posted a pattern for a pointy red hat that is a quiet rebellion against the things going on in Minnesota. I found some red yarn but mine is thicker than what the pattern calls for so I found a basic beanie pattern for my yarn and I'll follow the method when I get to the top so it turns out pointy with a cord and tassel like the real one. I cast on this afternoon and got through the ribbing and into the hat body. I just went on Facebook to check something and saw a post by DD that she bought the pattern and is casting on today too.

 

This is the last drawing out of the book Drawing Cute. It's a Hammer. I don't remember why she said she'd put in a hammer but she did and kind of made a big deal of it. I put that book on the shelf and chose another drawing book. I think I've drawn some of the things in the book but I want to draw more of them.

 

I stepped out of my comfort zone this afternoon and entered one of the short story contests online. The one with the February 1 deadline is for new or emerging writers. I don't think I'm either new or emerging so I chose the other one. Before I could think too hard about it I saved the story as a PDF, paid the entry fee, and uploaded it. Now I'm committed. There's no turning back. I have no illusions about winning but the category I entered is for people over 70 so maybe I have a fighting chance.

 

After supper I painted these Cosmos. I'm not thrilled with them but will try again. I have to keep reminding myself that I can practice them over and over until I like what I get. I wish I could see how the author of the book used her brush to paint the petals. She described it but when I tried my petals looked like feet with toes. Not what I was hoping for. Maybe next time.

 

 Hey, it got up to 1 degree today! It's -5 now but the feels like temperature is -5 too so there must be no wind. My back doorknob is still a little frozen but not completely unusable like it was yesterday. Today I could open the door to toss my banana peel in the outside trash.

I wrote a little today--386 words--working through an emotional time with Rose and Iggy. I have a really hard time stretching it out. I keep wanting to solve the problem on the next page and have to resist the temptation.

--Barbara 

Not Going Anywhere

Why not? Because not only is it -15 degrees with a "feels like" temperature of -30 degrees but the door from my kitchen into the garage was frozen shut this morning. Not that I was planning to go anywhere but that door's the only access to my car. If by some chance I needed to go someplace, I couldn't because the knob wouldn't turn. I had to get out the hair dryer and an extension cord so I could heat it up to be able to open the door. I sprayed it with WD-40 but that only made it turn easier for a while, then it went back to being frozen. I turned the knob every hour or so but won't be able to do that overnight so I left the hair dryer out for the morning. I was surprised and rather horrified to see the mail carrier walking around the neighborhood this morning. You'd think he'd be allowed to drive the route in weather like this but maybe he likes walking.

 

I worked on adding the murder accusation and arrest parts to the manuscript today. I put the additions in red so that I'll know what's new when I go back through it again--and again and again--before it's ready for publication. I have no illusions about having to change things to accommodate the new twist in the story. Many changes will be needed. 

 

Today's drawings are a Coffee Maker & Luggage. The coffee maker was more challenging to draw and now that I look at it, I see it's kind of cockeyed.

 

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I finished the Campfire Hat #2. I'm going to soak it and block it hoping that the yarn will bloom. I double checked the fiber content and it isn't 100% wool like I thought it was. It's only 50% wool and 50% acrylic so it might not bloom so much but I'll still do it and see what happens. It's a little scratchy so maybe a bath will soften it up.

 

There were no birds or squirrels out and about today. I did see a rabbit sniffing around under the feeders at suppertime. It's just too cold out for man or beast. I'm glad they cancelled school today.

It must be short story contest season because I've gotten emails from two friends in the last two days with information about contests, so I looked at my remaining stories that haven't hit Substack yet. (Entries have to be unpublished and social media counts.) The only story I thought was worth submitting was scheduled to be published next Wednesday so I yoinked that off and substituted a different one. Now I need to decide which contest to enter. One has a deadline of February 1 so I have to think fast. 

--Barbara

I Meant To Stay Home

But I didn't. DS invited me to visit the brewery this morning while he brewed the new hazy IPA. I wasn't doing anything so I went. It wasn't too cold and it's never cold in the brewery. It's always hot and humid in there. Anyway, he was testing the ph of his brew in this picture. It was too high so he dumped some powder into the kettle that will lower the ph. Then he transferred some Good Dog Porter from one tank into the fermenter so he'd have room for the new hazy IPA. All very scientific and wet. Lots of water in beer brewing.

 

Last week I asked my assistant, KM, to use part of my webpage banner to make a publishers logo for me. I can put it on the title page of my new book and when I republish all of the earlier ones, because I want to issue them with my own ISBN number instead of the free one from Amazon, I can tack it on there too. 

 

Today's drawings are a Mailbox & a Bathtub. Both fun to draw, especially the bubble bath. Only two more pages left in the book and then I can move on. Or maybe I'll move back to a book I've already finished and have a do-over. Only time will tell.

 

After supper I got out the paints and painted Dill Stems. I thought they were an odd flower choice but they were simple to paint and turned out okay.

 

I didn't see any birds or squirrels today, not that I was sitting at the table much. It got awfully windy late in the day so I'm sure they were all hunkered down.

I wrote a bunch today but not on one page so I could count the words. I kept working in the suggestion of my critique partner to have one guest die and another be accused of his murder. I'm reading through what's already written, taking out a few references to the arrested guest and salting in Rose's reactions and emotions. It's a little tricky but I'll have plenty of time to make it pretty on subsequent edits.

Tonight I met with three writing friends to talk about marketing again. We're trying to brainstorm ideas and search out ways of getting our books out there in front of people. I may have volunteered to help someone learn how to set up ads on Amazon. It's a good thing I have a file of instructions on how to make the different types of ads.

I really don't plan on going anywhere tomorrow or Saturday. It's supposed to be REALLY REALLY cold, like -45 degree wind chills. I think school's cancelled so the kids don't have to walk in it and freeze.

--Barbara 

Getting Ready

Today I ran around and did all the things I wanted to accomplish before the deep freeze sets in on Friday. I went to the grocery (no, the OTHER grocery) to pick up a prescription and stocked up on a couple of my new favorite frozen meals. I stopped to fill up the gas tank so I'll have a full tank so that there's no gas line freeze happening when the temps fall below zero. I also got to do the afterschool run so I saw LC and OJ for a few minutes. We even stopped on the way for a treat. Yes, I'm that grandmother. A little bit of a pushover.

 

While I was yoga-ing this morning, the Red-bellied Woodpecker landed on the suet nuggets for a snack. I paused my practice to take its picture because I couldn't rely on it sticking around until I was done.

 

Today's drawings are a Kite & an Airplane. They turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. I especially like the kite's tail.

I moved slowly this morning. Just didn't have the motivation to do much. I did my yoga, then took a shower, and reread what I'd written yesterday and decided that I'd jumped the gun having the guest arrested right away. So I lopped off that part of the writing and pasted it on a separate page to use later. Then I read on to see where I needed to change things and where I could ramp up the tension by having her arrested. Haven't gotten there yet, but I will. 

And that's it for today. Not much to say or show but it was a good day because the sun was shining and it got up to 21 so I didn't freeze solid while I was pumping gas. Just got a little cold. Oh, and I noticed that one of my favorite mittens has a hole in it! How that happened I do not know but I'm hoping I can find the remnants of the yarn and fix it because they're my warm car mittens.

--Barbara 

It's Good To Have Friends

I had a Zoom with my writing friend, cda, this afternoon. She critiqued a piece of my newest manuscript which might be called Sailing the Seas (or not). When it ended she asked if a character was going to die and another one be accused of the murder. !!! That hadn't occurred to me but as soon as we got off Zoom I buckled down, figured out where to put it, and wrote it. Or the beginning of it anyway. I wrote 1503 words altogether today, 979 of them about the death and arrest. Now that's conflict! 

 

It was bright sunny again today but not quite as cold. It was -5 when I got up at 7am but was 10 degrees when I was making supper, so not too bad. The squirrel was on the suet nuggets when I was finishing lunch this afternoon and it was even in the sunshine.

 

No so the little Sparrow that visited the square green feeder a couple times that I saw. He was in the shade no matter where on the feeder he landed.

 

There was a murder of Crows in the big tree behind the house. Really, that's what you call a flock of Crows. Five of them were lined up on a branch but as soon as I snapped the shutter one flew toward me and another one lifted off on its way to follow. They're surprisingly big.

 

Today's drawings are a Washer & Detergent. I like them. For some reason I like the Detergent the best. No idea why. Every time OJ sees what I draw he says that I draw "stuff." He draws stories.

 

And I repainted yesterday's Soft Blue Flax. It turned out better, I think, although the petals aren't quite symmetrical on the left one. It's better though. Maybe I'll try again.

 

After my haircut this morning I went to the grocery and one thing on my list was another 25# bag of ice melt salt because I'm using the stuff I bought before faster than anticipated. Well. The Meijer app said they had some more of the 25#ers, but all I found were 50# ones. I could lift one, but couldn't get it on the bottom shelf of the cart and figured I couldn't get it into the car or the bin in the garage. So I ended up getting 2-12# jugs of pet-friendly not-salt that's supposed to work as well. We shall see. I was just glad that the car started this morning. It's been so darned cold and I hadn't gone anywhere for a few days so I went out early to crank it over. It started right up. Whew. It's supposed to be bitter cold this coming Friday and Saturday. I don't have to go anywhere but will make sure my gas tank is full before then. It's best to have a full tank when it gets very cold. I'm not sure why but that's what the big kids tell me.

--Barbara 

Better Late Than Never

I lay in bed this morning watching the shade move in and out with the breeze coming in the window over my head. It was a very cold breeze. I berated myself that I hadn't plastic-ed the window sooner, like before the new bed arrived when I could have done it from the security of the step stool instead of being on top of the squishy mattress that kept trying to tip me off balance. But I took my time and kept the tape and scissors in my hoodie's pouch so I didn't have to keep leaning over to get things off the nightstand. And survived. I'm considering just leaving the plastic there after winter because I can't guarantee I'll be brave (or foolish) enough to do it again next winter.

 

I can show you how windy it was today. When it (eventually) stopped snowing the day before yesterday the snow was a smooth blanket of white. This morning that changed. Look at the way the wind sculpted the snow in the backyard. Just to the left of this picture the grass is partly exposed because the wind blew all the snowflakes to the right. I don't even want to know how much snow encroached on my nice clear driveway but I'm not going out to shovel it because it's just too darned cold. It got up to 4 degrees today but the feels like temperature was in the -15 degree range. I have to go out to get a haircut tomorrow morning and then I'll go to the grocery on the way home and stay inside for the rest of the week if I can manage it. It was also clear and sunny today. I love the sunny part but I'm not a fan of the bitter cold and the strong wind.

 

Today's drawings are a Toaster & Refrigerator. Fun to draw and color. Five more pages to draw in this book and then I'm on to something new.

 

The watercolor today is Soft Blue Flax. I don't know that I've ever seen it in real life but it was fun to paint because I used a filbert brush. Its bristles are basically the shape of the petals so I could use it like a stamp. I want to try painting this one again to see if I can't get better at spacing the petals.

 

I wrote 726 words today, words of conflict. Yay, me! We all know how conflict-averse I am so I was very pleased with myself for putting Iggy in a situation that Rose misinterpreted and stormed away from. Maybe I can do it again tomorrow. I started by rereading the critiqued part of the manuscript to see if I could insert some emotion and conflict but only managed to do a little editing and break that beginning part into chapters. Baby steps.

--Barbara