Reading Update and Still Cruising

The internet (wifi) on this cruise is frustrating me more than usual. Maybe because I’ve been on this ship for 20 some days. It’s pretty bad when you can’t even get Carnival’s app to come up (and you don’t need to purchase the internet plan to use it). But it’s only frustrating me a little. Hubby found out that he can’t log into his work. Partly because of how slow the system gets (and he purchased the highest tier plan) and partly because his work has made two-factor identification impossible on a slow system. At least Hubby doesn’t need to bother lugging around the work laptop on future cruises since he can’t use it.

Here’s what I read since my last update:

Book 21

Dates read: April 25-26, 2023
Title: Becoming Dragon
Year of publication: 2016
Author: Eve Langlais
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Dragon Point #1
# of Pages: 175
Paper or plastic: Nook book
How obtained: Purchased
Blurb from Goodreads: Dragon Point isn’t a place, but rather a society, a secret one. And humans aren’t invited.
    I’m a monster. That’s what Brandon thinks when he flees the medical institute that changed him. Living a normal life isn’t in the cards for him because, while he can hide his scaly skin, his wings are hard to miss. So he runs and lives in the shadows where monsters belong. What he didn’t expect to find were others just like him, and they call themselves dragons. Or so Aimi with the violet eyes tells him when she pins him to the ground.
    Seriously, though, dragons?
    He doesn’t want to believe, but the evidence is mounting. Not helping his resolve is the fact that the woman with the silver hair doesn’t fear the monster and wants to claim him.
    However, before he can think of his own happiness, he has to rescue his little sister. Uncle Theo kidnapped her, and Brandon will do anything to get her back, even if he must embrace the monster within to become the dragon.
My thoughts: I liked this. The humor was great, too. I just had a tiny problem with the beginning of this story, but overall I liked the characters.

Book 22

Dates read: April 26-28, 2023
Title: The Last Goodnight
Year of publication: 2021
Author: Kat Martin
Genre: Romantic suspense
Series: Blood Ties #1
# of Pages: 297
Paper or plastic: Nook book
How obtained: Got free for my B&N membership
Blurb from Goodreads: When Kade Logan said goodbye to his estranged wife eight years ago, he never thought it would be the last time he saw her alive. Now her car has been hauled out of a nearby lake and Kade is determined to track down the man who murdered her. Enter Eleanor Bowman, a talented private investigator who’s about to stir up a hornet’s nest on his Colorado ranch.
    With old scandals still buzzing about his late wife’s many affairs and new violence erupting, Kade is faced with the discovery of another beautiful woman’s body. Are the two killings linked? Who is the man who seduced, then murdered both victims? Ellie believes they are dangerously close to the truth.
    From corporate Denver high-rises to posh Vail mansions, Kade and Ellie sense the killer is closing in again, and this time Ellie is the target. Kade must risk everything to save the woman he’s coming to love—before she becomes the next one to die . . .
My thoughts: I had really hoped to have found a new series to read when I picked this book from my choices from B&N (they offer me a free ebook once a month because I’m a member), but Kade’s jealously got on my nerves. I enjoyed the story (the suspense), but the romance…not so much.

I tell you, the weather has definitely changed once we hit the Pacific Ocean. I’m surprised we had awesome weather in Cabo San Lucas (it was cold and overcast the day before and the day after and still is cold and overcast). That place is so cool, though. I don’t know how many times we were told Cabo is a desert with an ocean, but it sure is pretty to me. The breeze was definitely cooler on the pacific side than the gulf side. We had a fun day seeing the sights. It might even be fun to just fly down there and spend a few days, too. Don’t know if we’ll ever get around to that, but we wouldn’t object to doing it!

Happy Reading!

Stacy

No Wednesday Reads and Vertigo is a Bitch

When you read a 700-page book and are lucky to get 300 pages read in a week, don’t expect to get it finished in a week! Good news, I’m past page 350. Bad news, I have nothing to report this week, because…700 pages!

At least they’re a GOOD 700 pages. So far, anyway. Although, I don’t know if I’d have read this far if they weren’t.

I’m also behind in the final reading of Ghostly Interlude. Well, not the final-final reading. I’m sure I’ll have another one once it’s formatted. This is the final reading before it gets to the formatter. It might not have helped that I came down with a roaring case of vertigo on Monday night.

Wish I knew where THAT came from. Needless to say, Tuesday was a little…tough. I was basically afraid to move my head. I did get some reading done on Ghostly Interlude, but not near as much as I wanted. Because when the world around you spins, you just want it to stop spinning.

I do have a wellness doctor appointment coming up next week, so I’ll make sure to mention it. Hopefully it’ll just be that one time. I don’t want to go through that again. Vertigo is a bitch!

I think our internet woes are finally fixed. Third time might have actually been a charm. But I’ll hold off on the celebration until at least a week has gone by.

Hey, but we did get some good news through all the visits from Spectrum. Seems we can take our current plan with us to the new house. Spectrum doesn’t actually sell the Signature Home that Time Warner sold us, but will continue to support it since we’re grandfathered in. I was afraid we’d have to change when we moved. Glad to know we don’t have to if we don’t want to.

And even better, the last tech that came by noticed Hubby’s dismantled fish tanks. Hubby told him he could have them if he wanted (for free—he doesn’t want them and we weren’t going to take them to the new house). The kid (yes, he was younger than my kids) was thrilled. So are we. Means we don’t have to haul them out to the trash!

So… Have you ever had vertigo? I had it once before, many years ago (when I was working as a cost accountant). Doctor told me it wasn’t anything serious, so that’s what I’m going with this time. Except this time was way worse than last. I swear, I thought someone had slipped me a micky during dinner. Made me nauseous. And I hate feeling sick like that. Blech.

Happy Reading!

Stacy

Well, That Was Awful

Neither football team I rooted for yesterday won. Ugh. And I bet that when the Eagles play the horrible patriots in the SuperBowl, they’ll get skunked. Because that’s how it always seems to go. I have hopes someone, ANYONE will beat those horrible patriots and they never do.

I posted on Facebook and will repeat here: I don’t think I’ve hated the Cowboys as much as I hate the patriots.

And I really, really hate the Cowboys.

And yes, I’m intentionally not capitalizing the team name. That shows you how much MORE I hate them.

I suppose that’s how some people feel about the Penguins, although I don’t think the Penguins have ever been caught cheating. And maybe the patriots didn’t cheat THIS year, but they have before, so I’ll never EVER like them. Never. Ever.

As if the football games didn’t make yesterday crappy enough, I remembered (too late!) that I started hosting duties for the Sizzle and Sass page (Facebook). Oops! But when I went to post on my PC, I discovered I couldn’t. I could do it from my phone, but it’s kind of hard to post the pictures I have on my laptop from my phone. Plus, I type better on my laptop than I do on the phone (why can’t Apple have a BACK SPACE key anywhere??).

I tried everything, checked everything, and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I finally contacted Facebook (with a screen shot, even).

And while I was going through all that, we were constantly losing the internet (an issue we’ve been experiencing lately). Last weekend Spectrum came out to check our router and we were told the signal was too high, causing it to short out. They supposedly fixed that problem and left the router alone.

When the internet/wifi went out yesterday (after having gone out a few times on Friday), Hubby called them again. They sent someone out again. Seems the router was going bad (no, really?). Technician replaced it, and after Hubby got the wifi up and running, guess what? I could post to the Sizzle and Sass page.

I can’t imagine our router was the cause, and I’ve never known Facebook to react so quickly, but hey, whatever. I almost thought I wasn’t going to be able to host this week.

I certainly hope the week goes better than yesterday did. I don’t like feeling grumpy!

So… What sports team (any sport) do you hate the most? Or are you the type of sports fan that just likes watching the game with no emotion whatsoever? I can’t imagine ever doing that. Why watch if you’re not going to get emotional?

Happy Monday!

Stacy

I'm Back...Sort Of

Still driving home from the cruise, but stopped near Macon, GA (on the way to Atlanta) to watch the football games last night, so I had some time to write. Plus, I got INTERNET.

You don’t realize how much you miss it until you’re teased with having it.

Hubby purchased the premium package this time (to get streaming and a faster upload/download/whatever), but the Internet on the Conquest was so much worse than what we got for a standard package on the Miracle back in November! There was no way I was going to be able to post anything to the blog. Heck, I would have been surprised if I got the blog to show up on my laptop to begin with.

When it took me two minutes to just open an e-mail, you can imagine my frustration.

So yeah, I was TEASED with the Internet. I think I would have been better off thinking I couldn’t have it at all. And I tried to think that way. I really did.

Lucky for us, Hubby was able to get a 50% discount for the premium package, but still stay ON the premium package (I’m thinking the standard package had to have been CRAP), and plus his company was paying for it anyway. Thank goodness they didn’t need him for anything important. Not sure he could have helped any if they had.

I expect to be home by dinner time tonight. And you know what? I’m kind of in the mood to decorate for Christmas. Who’d have thought, right?

This cruise was very motivating. I actually got some words written on my WIP and more ideas are starting to come to me. Yay! You don’t know how happy that makes me feel.

As for the football games we watched yesterday… Never would have expected the Rams to CRUSH the Seahawks. Man, what fun that was to see! But the Steelers...Ugh. I was really hoping they would have pulled another win out of their a$$! Especially against the Patriots (I hate them soooo much). I just hope Antonio Brown isn’t hurt too badly.

Happy Monday!

Stacy

Happy Columbus Day and I’ve Got Some Gripes

It’s Columbus Day! Are you off work today? Hubby has to work, so it’s a normal weekday for me.

Heck, I don’t remember the last time we actually got Columbus Day off. Probably when we worked for the military.

A long time ago.

But I remember when it used to be a school holiday. I don’t think it’s that anymore, either (at least not here). Think we have too many holidays? Or not enough?

I have a gripe today. A gripe with my iPhone. Or more precisely, my Yahoo calendar on my iPhone.

For some strange reason it still thinks I’m in Central time (I’m not. I’m in Eastern). All my “appointments” (which are actually game times) are listed an hour earlier than they’re supposed to be. I’ve tried re-booting my phone. I’ve tried deleting the calendar, rebooting the phone, then adding the calendar back. I’ve tried forcing the time zone on and off. Nothing is working.

The Yahoo calendar on my laptop is correct, though. It shows I’m in the Eastern zone. So why is my iPhone not syncing up correctly? It has the correct time zone!!!

It’s so baffling and frustrating.

The only good thing is I get an hour’s notice when a game is about to start.

I have the new IOS 10, but I believe this problem existed before I upgraded. In fact, I believe it started when we drove back from Denver. For some reason my phone got stuck. I had issues syncing my Fitbit (it kept showing Central time) and the first reboot fixed that (thank goodness).

I’ve tried searching the internet for help, but everything is from years ago. Nothing recent. Can I be the only one having this problem?

That would be my kind of luck.

I also have another gripe. This one with Yahoo (I’m beginning to notice a theme here) and IE11. For some reason myYahoo thinks I’m on an older version of IE. myYahoo works fine on Edge and Chrome (except I don’t like either), so I don’t know what’s going on. Very frustrating. My screen is all screwed up (can’t get my theme to work correctly). Grrr…

I’d use Edge all the time (especially now that the picture doesn’t shake—yes, it did that before), but I can’t figure out how to show what websites I’ve visited recently. There’s no little down arrow over to the right of the URL (or anywhere I can see). I use that down arrow all the time on IE. Why Edge got rid of it, I’ll never know. 

Unless I’m just blind and it’s there. If that’s the case, can you enlighten me?

Football Update:

• High School: Wayne won!
• College: Ohio State won! USC Trojans won!
• NFL: Steelers won! Rams… didn’t win. Okay, guess I can’t win them all. L

Good news! 3 days till PENGUINS HOCKEY! Yay! It’s getting to be a busy sports season (by the way, I’m rooting for the Dodgers in the World Series hunt).

So… Do computer programs/apps/what-have-you make you crazy? I probably wouldn’t have such issues with them if they didn’t update so darn often! Ugh.

Happy Monday!

Stacy

I Was Number ONE!

Like I do way too frequently (because I should be writing), I was over at Amazon Friday morning, checking on My Sunny Vampire. Since the Bookbub ad, I’ve been getting a lot more reviews and I’m curious to see what people have to say (good or bad). Plus I like to see the review number go up! It’s a sick obsession, I know, but I only take the positives out of it. I know not everyone is going to like my work, but it’s nice to see when I’ve reached my audience.

Anyway, while I was there I couldn’t help but ALSO check out at my ranking. It had been five days since the ad, so I figured I was dropping from my high of #2 in free paranormal romances. Well, much to my surprise, I rose.

 

To #1.

 

Here's proof:

 

Can you believe that? NUMBER. ONE. I couldn’t. Five days later and people were still downloading it? Yikes! It really is mind boggling.

It has since dropped, but for one whole day I got to see my book on top of the heap. What a nice view! J

Of course, it doesn’t mean a darn thing if I don’t gain some fans. And if I DO manage to get some, I certainly won’t KEEP them if I continue to procrastinate with my current WIP. So… here’s to working with the internet turned OFF this week (at least Mon-Thu, since the hubby is off Fri, and only between 10am-5pm). Think I can do it? I’m certainly going to try. I’ve got a job to do and it won’t get done if I’m hanging around Facebook, blogs, and Amazon. J Not that I don’t love you all. I do. But seriously, I’ve got to get crackin’!

Have a great Monday! Tonight in the comments, I’ll let you know if mine was great.

Stacy

Sorry, No Service

I didn’t realize how much I could miss being connected until suddenly I wasn’t.

The retreat was nice. I got a lot of re-writing done (several chapters, which I would have done even if I had internet). But I missed having cell service, and not just to keep up with my e-mails (or the Sizzle & Sass page, which I totally flubbed). I missed talking to my sweetie before bed.

I’ve gotten so used to being able to e-mail or text or call him whenever. I missed sharing my day (however boring) with him. I missed hearing his voice.

I missed hearing how the last Penguin game went—I can’t believe they lost in overtime. Oh, the agony!

As for the retreat, I stayed in a cabin with 11 other women, and apparently a family of mice, too (thank goodness I didn’t see them). I slept in the bottom bunk up in the loft with 4 other people. On the first night I slept fine, but the people on the lower level froze at night, so they asked to turn up the heat. Well, guess where that heat went? I about died the second night.

Of course, it could have also been my hot flashes (I’m getting so sick of those).

I ate a lot, too. How do I know? My jaw hurt Sunday (and it still hurts). Yeah, I’ll be paying for that for the next few days I’m sure. This is why I don’t keep snacks in the house. I eat them!

Came home in time to take a shower (the water at that place stunk—didn’t taste too well, either) and then headed on out to see the Dayton Dragons beat the West Michigan Whitecaps (yay!).

All in all, it was a productive and fun weekend, even with all the issues with the cabin. Retreats are fun to get to know some other writers. To be able to brainstorm on the fly or just sit and write (and apparently eat).

But next time I hope to have cell service (and maybe less food). Or maybe not host Sizzle & Sass at the same time. Major fail, there!

Now I get to worry about getting ready for the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention. Before I know it, May 10th will be here. Which reminds me…I need to get my mom a Mother’s Day gift!

So…How was your weekend? Have nice weather? It rained here on Saturday, but was absolutely beautiful on Sunday. Couldn’t have asked for nicer baseball weather.

Stacy

Computers, Movies, and Geocaching

We recently upgraded out cable to a whole-house system, which also upgraded our internet speed by trillions. Okay, maybe not trillions, but it more than doubled. Well, it doubled if…

my laptop’s wireless card could be upgraded. It cannot (since it is part of my motherboard).

Oh, but does the cable company tell you that? Heck, no!

So, while my husband is able to enjoy the speedy internet connection via wireless, I have to “plug in” if I wish to have the same service; otherwise, I’m stuck with the same ol’ slow internet. Guess it’s the price I pay for keeping my laptop, huh? And I really don’t want to give it up.

J J J

How far would you travel to see a movie?

On June 7, “Much Ado About Nothing” was reported to be released. I checked our local listings. Nothing. I checked Fandango, MovieTicket.com, and Rotten Tomatoes. Nothing. Found out via a comment on one of those sites that it was released in only FOUR theatres. The big release was scheduled for June 21. Okay, guess I have to wait.

On June 21, I checked our local listings. Nothing. My daughter came over and told me that the only Ohio cities showing the movie were Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland. How is THAT a big release? Guess I should be lucky it’s in Ohio at all, huh?

So yesterday, my daughter and I drove aaalll the way to Columbus (that would be 120 miles round trip) to see the movie. Was it worth it? Yes, it was. Now, I’m not a huge Shakespeare fan, and the fact his words are basically used in a modern-day setting kind of threw me (you really have to pay attention to what the characters are saying), but it was funny and I liked the people who starred in it. My daughter is a huge Joss Whedon fan AND she likes Shakespeare, so it was doubly good for her. If I were to rate this movie on something like Goodreads, I’d give it four stars!

J J J

Have you ever heard of geocaching? Saturday, my daughter discovered this newfangled adventure using your smart phone and now she’s hooked. It’s like a scavenger hunt, but it’s not like you win anything. It’s just something to do so you can say you did it. At least, that’s what I take it for. It does require a lot of driving around and searching, searching, searching. Then, when you find the object, you write your name down and then replace it.

Sometimes I see things and think: Gee, I wish they had something like that when I was young. Like I do with iPods or even CD players. I would have LOVED to carry my music everywhere back in the 70s.

But I don’t think I would have gone geocaching if it existed all those years ago. Not because I was lazy (I was and still am, thank you very much), but because I just wasn’t (and am still not) very adventurous.

I’ll leave the adventures to my characters (which gives me an idea… See, they come at the strangest times!).

So… Do you think you’ll check out “Much Ado About Nothing”? And if you saw it, what did you think?

Stacy

 

I'm Back Among the Connected

We got our internet back today. Yay!

I just never realized how often I checked my e-mail until I couldn't do it. Maybe that will mean I'll check it less often?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Yeah, I crack myself up!

Tonight I'm headed out for a Dragons game. I hope the rain (yep, been having some of that - finally!) ends by then. I'm also going to tomorrow night's game. With all the writing I've been doing, I think I can actually sit back and enjoy the games, too. I really love not having to leave the house to work! Only problem: it doesn't pay! Well, not yet, anyway. Some day, though. Some day!

Sunday I plan on going out to see the last Batman movie (well, not the LAST, because I know eventually someone will create another one). My son has been looking forward to going. My daughter is bummed she can't attend with us, so I told her I'd go see it again on $5 Movie night with her (because that's the kind of wonderful mother I am!!).

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. See you around the blogosphere!

Please Stand By - Technical Issues at Hand

Here I was, all set to write a blog stating it was my birthday (yep, I'm officially a senior citizen as far as Bob Evans is concerned) and that there WAS no blog for the day when I couldn't even get to my e-mail.

Yep, our internet is down and won't be back up until Friday afternoon (provided the technician fixes the problem then).

So, instead I'm outside Buffalo Wild Wings copying this hastily written post and checking my e-mails (and I'm sure cursing at the slowness of it all).

There is some good to come of it, though. I'm forced to write and not surf the net! And I've been writing. Of course it helps when ideas for scenes finally come to life. Hey – add another character to bring in some conflict and the scenes practically write themselves. I love it!

At least you know I'm not ignoring your blogs. I just can't get to them. Have a great week and I'll see you back on Friday afternoon (I hope!).

I'm Back!

I'm glad this is a long weekend. I need time to recover before going back to work. Man, I wish I didn't have to do that!!

The drive to NYC went well. I was surprised we didn't hit a lot of rush hour traffic (it was on a Monday). However, arriving in Times Square at 9pm was a bit harrowing (thank GOD I wasn't driving).  After having problems locating the hotel (the Garmin stated it was on Broadway, but we couldn't find it – too many lights!), we headed to the parking garage and walked. Three blocks up and four blocks over, we managed to weave our way through the crowd (there were three of us) and found the blasted hotel. If the Garmin had said to go down 46^th Street, we MIGHT have been able to location the driveway. As it was, we never ventured down that street.

Needless to say, we got our exercise right off and had hardly been in the city for an hour!! But at least we knew where to go when it came time to leave (there was no WAY we were going to haul our luggage back to the parking garage).

As I suspected, internet was at a premium in NYC. The McDonald's across the street had free Wi-Fi, but it was soooo sloooow, I nearly ran out of battery time just checking my e-mails! It wasn't worth going over there every night. I know, I know, if I had one of those smart phones like my husband has (iPhone), I wouldn't have had a problem, but I just can't justify owning one of those – yet.

I had a good time at Nationals and my agent appointment went well (she asked for the full – yay!). I didn't take many pictures, mainly because I forgot to take my camera when I should have had it with me. Or I didn't pull it out and use it when I could have. I mean, I had lunch with Allison Brennan and didn't get our picture taken together. I'm such a dunce!

I did get Lynsay Sands' autograph on one of her Highlander books. Now, watch me get hooked on that series (yes, I will be reading it – I love her books).

While I attended many workshops (some good, some not so good), I also attended the many book signings and came back with over 30 books (only paid for 2). My husband doesn't think I'll read them all. I think I will – eventually. Sure, I still haven't read all the ones I got from RT last year, and I keep buying new (I do have some favorite authors), but I really believe I'll get through all my books (especially when I no longer HAVE to work). I've read 32 books so far this year, and that's WITH a job.

I'm in the final fixings of my book. My plan is to send it to the editor and agent this week. I've done some minor fixes already, but for some reason my brain can't function all that well and we have a friend visiting. Every time I think it's quiet and start working on the book, that's when someone decides to want to talk. It never fails. I guess I should consider myself lucky that I can get this blog written!

I also have homework from a class I'm taking. Overwhelmed is too light a word for how I'm feeling right now. I think I need a vacation from my vacation!

But I'm back now, and hopefully I'll be blogging more often. I can dream, anyway!

Happy Independence Day! Hope it's a fun-filled weekend for you.

Disconnected

My husband had a good laugh this weekend – and at my expense, too.

On Saturday our internet connection was iffy. Sometimes you could get connected and if you were stupid enough to log out, might not be able to get back in two seconds later. It was frustrating.

On Sunday morning I couldn’t get to the internet at all. So of course I ranted to my husband about it. That’s when he laughed.

Sure, he was laughing at the person who used to not care about the internet. Who was lucky to respond to your e-mail within a month of it being sent. When I didn’t own a laptop, I rarely used the computer.

Somewhere between writing and querying and reading blogs, I became obsessed with the internet. Or to be more accurate – my e-mail. I probably can blame that on querying – since it’s responses I’m looking for anyway. And not having access to my e-mail kind of makes me crazy. Crazy enough for my husband to laugh.

Oh well, it’s not like he doesn’t make me laugh on a daily basis. I guess it’s only fair he gets his turn. Still, if the internet isn’t fixed soon, he’ll start hearing me growl!