We Interrupt Yoga...

... to bring you a Red-bellied Woodpecker on the suet pellets. Just as I was changing yoga positions this morning I saw a flash of red and this Woodpecker landed on the feeder. I delayed moving to the next pose to get this shot of it. It's still kind of hanging off the bottom of the feeder, isn't it? Maybe it likes it like that.

Then when I was getting a snack this afternoon I glanced out the window over the kitchen sink and saw a little Downy Woodpecker on the suet cakes. It was on the back side but it moved just enough that I could snap a picture of its head.

Early this morning, before yoga, the flock of Sparrows descended and were on every feeder. There were three of them on the suet pellets so that's the shot I chose to show you but they were on the suet cakes and the finch feeder and the round feeder too.

I spent most of the day working on finding better keywords for The
Seaview. That's the book I'm focusing on going through the videos in Ad School. I've got a program called Publisher Rocket that does keyword searches when you type in a phrase or a word and tells you a rating for it. One thing they tell is how many people search using that phrase and then you see a green, yellow, or red button that tells you the chance that it's a good keyword and indicates the competition if you use it. I had a list of about 25 keywords that I'd researched in August so I looked at them again and crossed off ones that I didn't think were a good match. I found about 15 more that I thought might be good and added them to my list. I changed two of the keywords I used in August because someone told me if I put "romance" in the Amazon Keywords list Amazon will show my book in romance searches and it's not really a romance, it doesn't fit the strict "Romance" expectations and will get passed over by readers. It's a lot to think about and learn but I'm glad that I have the time and energy to work on it. The ones highlighted in yellow are the ones I'm using.

For today's drawing I used Drawing Nature and once again went waaaay over the promised 15 minutes to draw the sloth. It turned out okay, I think. It wasn't too difficult to draw and it looks kind of like a sloth.

I decided to give my foot one more day of rest so I didn't take a walk. It's feeling better and I don't want to push it. This whole getting older thing is a real pain.

--Barbara

Rainy with Afternoon Sunshine

It was overcast and rainy this morning and into the afternoon, dampening the fans at the Packers game. But during the game and after the game the sun shone for a little while so that was good. I put the sunshine and clouds and rain on the gratitude page I drew after supper. Along with my major accomplishment of shifting my summer shoes into the guest room closet and shifting my winter shoes into my main closet.

Once I returned the small people after lunch at the Home Town Cafe, I sat down at the laptop and finished the homework for Video 5 of the Ads Challenge. I made a couple FB group posts and then I made a couple keyword ads and posted about them. I learned about this utility/tool that gathers "also boughts" from book listings that are similar to my books so I can use the titles and author names as keywords. That way if someone types in one of those keywords when they're searching for a book, there's a good chance that my "ad" (aka cover) will show up on the page as a possible suggestion.

When I was walking around the block the other day I saw these two trees had changed color so I took their picture. I noticed that once again there's a light pole in the middle of the picture. I'm doomed to have streetlight poles in my pictures. *sigh* The colors are looking okay but they're not the vivid colors the leaves are in a season that isn't as dry as this one has been.

I pulled out the set of markers that LC bought me for my birthday and drew a couple flowers out of Draw 500 Fabulous Flowers. I chose the wrong yellow marker for the edge of the flowers. The one I chose was too close to the orange one. Oh well. I'll do better next time.

And it's raining again. I wish it would just RAIN instead of the piddly sprinkles that are annoying and don't water anything. I don't mind the grass not growing because it's been so dry but everything's so crispy. That's why the leaves are just brown and dropping for the most part instead of changing color and floating down.

OJ got out a tiny tea set that I bought ages ago at the dollar store and made a tea party for the three of us. He very carefully filled the tiny teapot and then dribbled a little water into each tiny cup. He said that we needed sugar so I tipped about a half-teaspoonful into an extra cup. He and LC used their mini spoons to scoop a few grains into their "tea" and exclaimed that it was pretty good. Yeah, they both really needed to drink sugar water. But it was fun to see them sipping away with their pinkies in the air.

--Barbara

Two In One Day!

Every morning when I boot up my laptop one of the things I check is the report of sales on the Kindle Direct Publishing website. This morning it said I'd sold 2 books so far this month, both Kindle ebooks. Just now I checked again and sometime today I sold 2 more books, paperbacks this time. Hooray! I spent a lot of the afternoon watching Ad Challenge and Genre Guild videos to try to learn how to figure out how my ads are doing. I had to figure out ad spend vs. royalties and over the lifetime of my ads I'm doing very well, slow but well. In the Genre Guild video I learned that I needed to remove "romance" from my keywords on all of my books because they're not Romance novels, they just have a little romance in them. Big difference.

This morning I waited patiently with the camera up and ready for a Chickadee to visit the platform feeder. There were two of them taking turns but they're so quick to fly in and out that if I hadn't had the camera ready I'd never have gotten this shot. It's not a portrait but at least you can see the bird.

For my drawing today I pulled out Dr. Seuss's Book of Animals, was flipping the pages, and saw these bees. I like bees. I like drawing bees. My initial is B. So I drew them.

I got a delivery this afternoon. The new book stands I ordered from Amazon came. I pulled out five from the 24 in the package and I think they'll work just fine. Does that mean I have to write 19 more books to use them all? Nah. I also got a 10-pack of WW chewy bars but I didn't take their picture.

I didn't take a walk today. My foot still hurts. I don't know what I did to it but I sure wish it would feel better soon. It makes me feel old. I went to the grocery and tried to stride around there instead of strolling. Maybe that counts.

--Barbara

Writerly Stuff

A few weeks ago I went to a local print shop and asked for a quote to make a banner to display at the Farmer's Market if we got a booth for the winter. I didn't get the quote so I called on Monday and they had sent it but I didn't get it so they resent it. I got it, changed the banner dimensions, got another quote, and ordered it. Today I got the email that it was done and ready for pickup. So I did. It isn't perfect. The blue letters are spotty but I think it'll be okay.

For most of the day I messed around with scenes in the manuscript. When I was at The Clearing last week I put back in all of the 3rd person scenes I took out earlier so they weren't printed off and in the binder so I did that. Tomorrow I have to write something new. I have to. I'll think of something.

The only birds that were at the feeders today were Sparrows and a few Mourning Doves. I did see a Robin chase a Dove off the top of the fence but that's all the exciting wildlife I've got, so I'll show you another one of Dad's roses. Pretty soon it'll be too cold for roses so I'm showing them while I've got them.

After supper I took a few minutes and drew a gratitude journal page for today. The big gratitude was that it got up to 79 degrees today. Seventy-nine! In October! I took a walk but I've hurt my left foot somehow. It doesn't bother me when I'm walking but when I sit for a while it really hurts when I get up and start to walk. What's up with that?

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I worked along on the Denim Washcloth. I've got the pattern memorized and was very careful to keep my right side and wrong side rows correct. Don't want any "design elements" (unfixed booboos) in this washcloth.

That's all I've got tonight. I finished listening to an audiobook and started an audio collection of short stories. Stupid foot. Every time I wriggle my toes it hurts. I hope I didn't break something. I've been having a BLT for supper since I have CS's homegrown tomatoes. Three left. Gotta get more chicken bacon tomorrow so I have enough bacon for the tomatoes. Can't just have an LT sandwich. Well, I suppose I could but why?

--Barbara

Visiting Birds

I had a small variety of birds visiting the feeders and the birdbath today. First thing when I opened the drapes I saw a House Finch come to the platform feeder. It didn't stay long and it was kind of tucked in the feeder but you can see his soft rose pink chest and head.

Another Red-bellied Woodpecker showed up on the suet pellets. I never saw its head so I couldn't tell if it was the same bird or a different one. Despite the feeder being full it hung from the bottom with its tail aimed at the house so this is all I saw of it.

A couple Mourning Doves were getting a drink and this one decided to take a little bath. It didn't flap around like the Sparrows and Robins do but it dunked itself a couple times and did a little flutter. Nothing too dramatic but it must have felt clean because it flew away.

Just so you know, I saw the first Junco of the season yesterday. I didn't get a picture of it because it landed on a patio chair and only stayed for a few seconds but it was definitely one of those "only comes in the winter" birds. *sigh*

Today's drawing went okay. These are out of 20 Ways to Draw a Jellyfish and I think I like the shark in the upper right the best. Although the cormorant head with the fish in its beak at the bottom was pretty fun to draw too.

I took a walk after supper and snapped a picture of some autumn leaves against the blue sky.
Pretty.

I wasn't very motivated today but managed to pad out the scene I started yesterday using the names of a couple guys I went to grade school with and their wives as new guests at Rose's bed & breakfast. I use so many names because people come and go so quickly. Then I printed off a few scenes that I hadn't put in my binder and did a little rearranging on the computer. I'm up to 68k words, only 12k to go! Once I get there I'll let the manuscript marinate for a couple weeks and then dive back into it for the next edit.

Today's Gratitude Journal page was a pretty easy one. My knitting friend, CS, brought fresh tomatoes from her garden to give us on Monday night so I made a BLT for supper. So good! I've got four more tomatoes. Guess what I'm having for supper tomorrow night. And the next night. And the next night. Until they're gone.

I looked on Amazon for book stands that fold up instead of the rigid plastic ones I have. The plastic stands take up a lot of space in the rolling backpack I use to take books to events and I want to take more books and less volume of stands so I bit the bullet and ordered some. I was hoping to be able to order 10 or 12 but I think the smallest quantity was 24. Oh well, they weren't too expensive and I'll have enough for all occasions.

I just got a text from DS. They can see the Northern Lights from their place. I went out to look but there's too much light pollution in my neighborhood for them to be visible. Too bad. However he sent pictures. Here's the best one. So cool! I'm more than a little envious.

--Barbara

We're In!

I got an email this afternoon that my application for a booth at the Winter Farmer's Market was accepted. We're in! I just emailed JB, LW, VR, GBB, and DS to spread the happy news. We get to set up a couple days before the first market so that'll be good. There won't be such a traffic jam. I'm hoping we can get a corner booth so we can set up tables in an L and have more display space. I guess we'll have to see how it works. I also got an email proof of the banner I ordered the other day so that should be ready in time for the market. Oh, I'm excited. (This is a pic of our market booth 2 winters ago but I couldn't resist.)

The Sparrows noticed the filled feeder this morning and took turns landing on the perches and making the feeder slowly spin. The Mourning Doves showed up too to peck at the seed tossed out of the feeder. By the time I sat down for supper they'd emptied the feeder about 4" from the top. Gluttons.

When I was doing my morning yoga a male Red-bellied Woodpecker showed up on the platform feeder but wasn't there long enough for a picture. However in the afternoon I happened to walk into the kitchen in time to see this juvenile pecking away at the suet pellets and it stayed long enough for me to snap a few shots and pick the best one. I don't know why it was pecking at the base of the feeder when it could have been vertical and pecking at the top. Oh well.

I took a walk after lunch and saw the first autumn leaf that wasn't brown. For the last few weeks the trees on my street have been losing leaves but they've all been brown and crunchy. This one looked like a real autumn leaf so I had to take a picture of it. We haven't had much rain in the last couple months so I'm sure that has something to do with the brown leaf situation.

This isn't a new Dad's rose but the sun was shining on it and I thought it looked so pretty that it deserved another photo op.

After supper I sat down to watch Jeopardy! (I did not get the Final Jeopardy) and then once it was over I picked up the Denim Washcloth and knitted a few rows. It's not any easier to see the stitches but I've got the pattern memorized and can figure it out when I lose my way.

I had a Zoom meeting this afternoon with a virtual assistant. I agreed to hire her to help manage my website, Facebook author page, and help increase my mailing list. I don't remember to post things on there and I'm not sure how to make them work for me anyway. She's not inexpensive but I figure I can cancel if things get out of hand. I have another meeting with her next week to get started digging in to what needs to be done. She said she liked my book covers which made me feel good. Let's hope she doesn't decide that I'm a lost cause.

I worked some more on the blurb for Open For Business and put v.4 on the Ad School FB page for comments. Then I wrote three pages of a new scene of guests arriving at Seaview. I told one of my St. Agnes Class of '65 classmates that I needed names for them so I'm using his and his late wife's names in this part. He was very moved by the idea. Made me feel good to do this for him. He still misses her so.

Twenty-nine years ago today Dad died. Holy cow, is it really that long ago? Yep. I miss the old guy, but I have his roses to remind me of him. Thanks, Dad.

--Barbara

Before & After

This morning before I filled the feeders the only food for the birds was the suet cakes so that's where the Sparrows were. They were so quick I could barely get a photo of them. Two of the shots ended up with brown blurs when the birds flew away but I managed to snap this one. It isn't very sharp but at least there are birds.

After lunch I went to the birdseed store and filled the feeders after I got home. No birds came to the feeders that I saw but this chipmunk came over to do cleanup of the few spilled seeds from filling the round feeder. It's very efficient.

In order to keep watch to see if any birds arrived at the filled feeders I pulled out my sketchbook, pens, and 20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly. None of these figures please me. I decided to try to find a head-on view of each one and draw it but they all look goofy. Not doing that again!

This evening I drew a gratitude journal page and didn't have any trouble filling the page with little pictures. Instead of walking up to the corner and back I counted the times I went down and up the basement steps doing laundry today. I have a lot of clothes and a lot of them were down the chute so there was plenty of laundry to keep me stair climbing most of the day.

I spent a lot of time changing the covers of Open For Business, changing prices (on the advice of the Ad School coach), and working on the OFB blurb. I searched the Ad School videos for blurb construction advice and found a couple so that helped. But what helped the most was the comment I got just now when I checked my latest post with the second version of the blurb. HH posted a rough blurb using info from the one I wrote with suggestions on how to polish it up. I am so grateful!

Yesterday I contacted the virtual assistant GBB recommended and today I got an email inviting me to a consult so I hurried to book a Zoom for tomorrow afternoon. I know that I'm not using my website, FB author page, and mailing list to their greatest advantage so I'm hoping she can help. I'll keep you posted.

--Barbara

Another Rose

I was admiring Dad's rose this afternoon and found another bud had bloomed. We haven't had a frost yet so the roses are still doing just fine. And even a mild frost won't hurt them because that south-facing side stays warmer. It's a micro-climate! Stuff pops up sooner and stays longer because of it.

This afternoon I spent time working to rewrite the blurb for Open For Business. I used some of the phrases in the original blurb and tried to follow the format recommended by Ad School. I posted the rewrite first draft and got a good comment with some suggested changes. I'll work on that tomorrow.

Then I pulled out my sketchbook and 20 Ways to Draw a Tree. For once I think I like all of the figures, especially the caterpillar on the leaf but the moth is good too. Some days I seem to hit home run after home run. Other days I feel like I should burn my pens. Today was a home run day.

I finished the Zauber Crazy Sock tonight when knitting with friends. I didn't have my darning egg with me so I couldn't weave in the tails but I'll do that tomorrow and have a truly finished sock. It may be time to get my handknit socks out for the winter. But then I see that it's supposed to get to 80 on Friday. This weather is so confusing.

I had a busy day today. This morning I had a Zoom critique group, I went to lunch with friends from the Class of 1965, and tonight was knitting. And I managed to squeeze in a little walk. Like I said, a busy day. And then I'm worrying about family in Florida with the crazy weather they're having. Stay safe, you guys.

--Barbara

A Medium-Size Woodpecker

Woodpeckers seem to be a theme lately. I saw that huge Pileated Woodpecker on Friday. I saw the little Downy Woodpecker yesterday. And today a juvenile Red-bellied Woodpecker visited the nearly-empty suet pellets feeder. I was tempted to go out and refill the feeder but I was certain if I scared it off it wouldn't come back for a long time. I'll fill it up in a couple days once I've gotten a new bag of birdseed too.

Dad's rose is still throwing out flowers. It was very windy this afternoon and as I sat here at the laptop trying to make myself focus on writing (without much success) I kept seeing this rose bob into view out of the corner of my eye. I waited until the wind died down just before sundown to take the picture otherwise it would have been too blurry because it was waving around so much.

The gold mums have all bloomed. The plant is supposed to be dome shaped but it doesn't seem to be able to organize itself into the correct shape. That's okay, I like the color of the flowers so the shape of the plant doesn't bother me.

The bronze mums plant is more the right shape. It too is blooming like crazy.

I decided to try drawing a tree with watercolor pencils and then smudging the color with a water brush pen. I should have colored it a lot darker so that it showed up better but I didn't. I do like the way the tree trunk turned out and the water. The grasses in the foreground are okay but the tree's leaves are not.

The Seaview was republished today with the new cover and blurb. When I looked at the sales page it had the old description instead of the new blurb. I forgot to change it. So I went back in and did that and then had to wait for it to be republished with the change. Now it's the way I want it. And I printed off the blurbs for Open For Business and Horizon to buckle down and rewrite them using the format I got from Ad School. I'll change Open For Business's cover as soon as I get the final files in a day or two and then add the new blurb when I write it. Horizon's cover is fine, it just needs a new blurb. I'll have to check the other two titles too because I'm sure they need rewriting too.

I went to the grocery this afternoon for pineapple and some cheese and crackers for the get-together tomorrow night. I also stopped to fill the gas tank and was happy when I got out of the car that the gas station was blocking the wind. It was fierce today. I took a walk tonight after supper when it was less windy and took a shower when I got home. If I don't shower in the evening it takes me forever to manage to get into the shower in the morning and I have to be on Zoom at 10, so evening shower it is.

Did I tell you that I sold 6 books last week? Two to The Clearing bookstore for stock and four to people at the Friday night Show & Tell. Hooray!

--Barbara

A Productive Week

I got back home just before noon today from a wonderful week at The Clearing and this afternoon I sat here and printed off all of the writing I did last week. There were six scenes to print. Six! Admittedly three of them are one pagers, but the other three are 2-3 pages and that's just fine.

The coolest thing I saw last week was this Pileated Woodpecker that was getting a drink at the stone birdbath when I was walking to class yesterday morning. I'd heard it but hadn't seen it and there it was! This isn't a great shot but I was in a hurry to get a picture before it flew away or someone scared it off. It's huge. It's the Woody Woodpecker of the bird world.

Sunset last night was breathtaking. We were preparing for the Friday Night Show & Tell and someone looked out the west window of the Schoolhouse and here's what we saw. Amazing colors that seemed to get better with every passing minute.

At the Show & Tell all of the writers had the chance to read a little something that we'd written during the week. I read a one page scene about Rose and Iggy relaxing after a long, tiring day. The audience seemed to like it.

I managed to finish binding off the scarf of Gray Bear before I left for The Clearing last Saturday. I think it looks very dashing in its colorful scarf.

At the other end of the woodpecker spectrum, this little Downy Woodpecker was clinging to the side of my birdbath this afternoon. This is my usual woodpecker sighting although I did see a Red-bellied Woodpecker one afternoon when I was sitting on the cabin's porch writing. That's a medium-sized one.

 

As I said I had a lovely week of writing, eating like food was going out of style, talking and laughing with friends old and new, and breaking in a new roommate, MH, who was breaking me in as a new roommate too. But I'm glad to be home in my own house with my own bathroom and my own bed. Aw, man, I forgot to carry up frozen supper portions so they can start thawing out so I'll have something to eat tomorrow evening. Be right back... Ok, I'm back. There were four new writers in the group and five oldsters but two of them, a mother and daughter, got sick and missed the last two days because they felt so wretched. Fortunately they weren't contagious so none of the rest of us got the pestilence. 

I got the name of a woman who does virtual assistance, like website, mailing list, and FB page hosting. I suck at those things. I plan to contact her on Tuesday and see what she can help me with. If I want to keep doing this writing and publishing thing I've got to ramp up my social media game, etc.

--Barbara