Category: Uncategorized

May 2026

Spring is in full bloom here. Pollen everywhere. My Dad has to wear a mask. With me my eyes water and I sniffle but it hasn’t gotten that bad, yet. It’s raining right now, been all day, so the pollen isn’t as bad today. I plan to get some writing done.

Five of our female ferals have kittens. The males are still feeling frisky but the ladies ain’t havin’ it. Screetches and claws come out if the males get too close.

I did the Triple Treasure Market Place May 9th. Only sold a few things, 2 books and a few of the mystery bags. The $1 box was popular as well. Lots of people looked and talked. Hopefully some people go to KU and read. I will be doing TTMP again in October.

I’m still working on my WIP, the 3rd novella of the Elemental Voice Companion Series. By September I plan to have it and another story done so I have new books for Hootin An Hollarin. The second story is still TBA as I have four other WIPs started. Since EVCS is under my Tina name I may do one under the T.L. mantle. I have sooo many stories in my queue. What I have written down is just a fraction of what is in my head. That’s why it takes me so long to write a book I think because I have so much in my head that things get crossed. My muse doesn’t stay on one thing for very long. As I’ve said before she’s fickle. Or has ADHD.

I got myself a cute little CD player that looks like a miniature record player so I can listen to music while I write. When I work on my stories I have to have background noise, either music or dvd playing. I have ADD so my attention can drift. But if I play something part of my brain is on that and another part is on the story. I have a cheap little CD stereo with speakers but I didn’t like it much. Not very cute looking. 🙂 And the remote for it went missing years ago. Now I have a cute player with a remote. Hours of good listening ahead. If only I could write faster.

Gonna finish my email now. I get a lot of spam, mostly scammers who want to promote or publish my books. They get file13ed without a look, though I do open some to hear their nice comments about my book which most of them obviously didn’t read. But it’s still nice to hear wonderful comments.

Catch you on the flip side. Stay tuned for next installment.

0

April 2026

April is here but not showery. We didn’t have much rain so far, not like last year. Folks around here are saying we’re going to have a dry summer this year. It wasn’t very rainy last year during the summer either but they’re saying it’s gonna be worse this year. I hope not. It’s already bad enough with other things that we don’t need that added.

The tux female Ashley wasn’t the first to have her babies; it was little White-Nose, the small orange and white tabby that gets picked on by the others. She had two oranges. Ashley had her five misc. a few days later. A couple of the others are showing bellies so we may have a few more soon, though they don’t look that far along. Mama cats usually have their litters close to our feeding boards or the sheds then move them within a few days, some like to keep close to our area to keep the possibility of coyotes and other pests from finding the newborns right away. But they do keep moving them around. Some of the ferals haven’t been coming around any more. We used to have about 15 but I’ve only been seeing about 10 consistently now.

I cancelled the Nixa library in-person event. I decided that if I went I didn’t have enough time to restock my books before the May event a two weeks later. With my luck I’d sell at the April event and won’t have enough for the May. Since the May is a slightly bigger event I’d go for that. And I had to make an appointment that day anyway. Certain things come up and you have to do what you got to do.

Triple Treasures Marketplace May 9th at Hardenville, MO is still on. I’ll be there before the official opening time of course setting up. If you want to catch me live I’ll be there.

I’m still working on my WIP. My muse is starting to actually work on it now so it should be finished before September’s Hootin and Hollarin. Hopefully I will get at least two books done this year. I have soo many in my queue.

I got to head into town now. Catch you on the flip side. Stay tuned for the next installment.

0

March 2026

March Madness is here. And I’m not talking about sports. 🙂

Time Change, Ides of March, and St. Paddy’s Day came and went so far. The month is half over and I didn’t get much done writing wise, about 200 words. Not a good start. I got to get a book out by the middle of April if I want it for May’s in-person event. But my muse is just being so fickle. She comes up with ideas for stories and scenes but she doesn’t want to spend much time doing the actual writing. I sit down and write out a bit and suddenly she’s on to another scene or idea. It’s frustrating. But I am going to get two books out this year even if I have to stage a riot with my muse. 🙂

The ferals are being frisky. Males are haunting the feeding boards, however most of the females are still having none of it. I have to chase away a few of the more eager males. Our alpha feral is injured. He had gotten into a fight and his paw got injured so he’s not been around much. The two young beta males that hang around have been posturing. But they ain’t going to get into fights, they don’t like getting their fur ripped off. Our female tux cat is visibly pregs so she will probably be the first to have kittens. The other ferals still have their winter fluff so I can tell. But if the males have their way, it won’t be long.

The two in-person events are confirmed. April 25th at Christian county library, nixa branch and May 9th at Hardenville, MO. June is not happening as I’ll not have the funds. Things just don’t jive right now. Maybe if I win the lottery. 🙂

It’s getting hot in the trailer so I’m going to go outside and enjoy the fresh air. I think it’s too early to turn the A/C on but if it keeps getting hot in the trailer I may have to. See you on the flip side. Stay tuned for the next installment.

0

February 2026

This is my birth month. Another year older. But not necessarily wiser.

I’ve been re-reading a mystery series that I just love. She hasn’t come out with a new book in that series in a while and her one website/blog has gone inactive. I hope she hasn’t stopped writing. I love the series and would love to see more.

Some writing did get done. I’m trying to slip back into my routine and get at least one book done by April. But social media is just so dang distracting. After I do my emails I just surf on in to FB and IG. I got 4 emails to look at, 2 are for book stuff, 1 for misc, and 1 is personal. Can take up a lot of time just on that, then I have 3 FB pages which I don’t even really update. I have hard enough time trying to stay current with IG. I think a lot of authors struggle with keeping up with social media. There are only so many hours in the day. We have daily activities/chores that we have to do. And a lot of authors still work a day job as well. I still think a brain to print interface needs to be invented, speech to print ain’t fast enough and can usually cause a lot of word errors.

We’ve been having some warm days, up in the 60’s. The cats are loving it of course. They’re being frisky. The males are chasing the females who are irritated with all that. Not time yet as far as they’re concerned. But you know males have only one thing on their minds when they think spring is here.

I signed up for two in-person events this spring. Author Expo in the Nixa Library is happening April 25 and Triple Treasures Marketplace in Hardenville, MO is May 9th. The TTMP is confirmed but I haven’t heard back from the Expo yet. But we have a while yet. I also signed up for the writer’s conference in June to save a place but I may not go as that one depends on several factors. More about them when it gets closer to time.

Dragon’s Heart has only sold a few copies and no one has rated it yet. I don’t know if that’s because it’s new or because people don’t think it’s worth a rating. My muse just wanted me to get it out of my head. It was taking up valuable real estate. It had been in my head a long time, sitting there like a stone. Other stories were bouncing off of it. I was having a hard time concentrating on other stories long enough to write. Some stories are like that. I promised myself that I would publish whatever I wrote, even if I considered them a ‘dud’. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure as they say. Each book still gets a going through for editing but no one’s perfect.

I got to feed the cats soon and I have to open a new bag. So I’ll catch you on the flip side. Stay tuned for the next installment.

0

January 2026

This month has been busy. I had doctor and dentist appointments and I am still waiting on my mammogram appointment to get set up. That will probably happen in February. I am done for this month with appointments and can now get back to a routine. I’m going to try not to set a bunch of appointments in one month again.

I also got a couple of Amazon mystery boxes this month. Well more than a couple, about 5. Two I ordered and 3 gifted. I can see why it’s addictive and all over YouTube. It’s fun to see what you get in the box. I’ll be selling most of the stuff at the Triple Treasure Marketplace in May. I’m already signed up for that. Hopefully I will have at least one new book to sell then as well.

The weather has turned colder here in the 20’s and 30’s. But instead of writing anything I’ve been cuddling up on my bed with books. Well, when I’ve not been going to appointments. Though relaxing with a book after seeing the dentist is nice. The Season Disorder makes me really tired and I just didn’t have the gumption to do any writing, especially with the cold and going to appointments. However I did go through my WIPs and set them up. So I can access them better now.

We got a heated water bowl for the cats. During the day we leave it unplugged but around 5pm I plug it in. The sun keeps the water warm enough for the cats to drink but at night it freezes so we got the bowl. I also bought two new small metal water bowls to replace the ones near the feeding boards. Those will go out in the summer. The old bowls are dented from me hammering the ice out for 6 winters. They’ll last this winter but they are bad, bad to the bone. 🙂

I need to put away the groceries I bought today. Well the stuff I knew could wait until later. Was getting low on a few things. See you on the flip side. Stay tuned for the next installment.

0

December 2025

Well, December is here. I’ve been a little depressed this last week so I didn’t write here as I normally would during the first week of the month. Seasonal Disorder has been a bummer for me. I hate that it gets dark so early. Normally I would be writing but my muse has been absenteeing. She’s been ignoring the story voices. That’s rare thing for her, yet she’s been doing it for the last month. However the voices don’t like to be ignored and I am getting restless. Come the new year I’m going to sit down and we are all going to have a chat.

It’s been colder here this month, below 40. Couple of times there’s been ice in the water pans. I’ve been putting out a bit more food for the ferals. We keep an extra bag of dry in case we can’t get out right away. Most of the older cats hunt but the younger ones, I’m not sure about. I’ve never seen them with anything. The squirrels and birds are fast around here and the older ones rarely catch them either but I have seen them with rabbits and field mice from the field behind our lot. A few of the young ferals sit on my parent’s back porch and watch the bird feeders, such intensity. Some even twitch.

I read and reviewed the two book club books I was behind on. However I still have to read the last book. I still don’t have any gumption for doing anything right now. But I’ll get that last book read and reviewed before the end of month. As I said Seasonal Disorder is kicking my butt. I’llget over it though. I usually do once the holidays are over and the new year has begun. Something about starting fresh jolts those blues away.

I’m organizing my goals for next year. I have plans, things I want to get done. Whether my muse cooperates is another thing.

Gotta go. Catch you on the flip side. Stay tuned for the next installment.

0

November 2025

A bit behind on things. Seasonal Disorder is kicking my butt. It gets dark too early for my rhythms.

I haven’t winterized my trailer completely yet. I just don’t have the gumption. And to me it’s not that cold right now. It’s dipped into the 30’s but with just a long-sleeved shirt I feel fine. Spring and Fall are my seasons. Well, except for the sinus problems they bring. I hate that.

My muse has not been very busy. I’ve only written about 200 words in all of October. And I am now two books behind in my book club. No gumption at all.

Mama cat has only two kittens with her now. She’s moved to the wood pile by the old chicken house with them. An older kitten has moved into the chicken house itself. I think it is one of the summer bunch that had stopped showing up. It looks like one of them any way. The kitten’s a scaredy cat though. You even look at it the wrong way and it runs off a little ways. If it spends enough time around here it will calm down some. They all do once they realize we ain’t gonna hurt them.

Been watching a few YouTube videos. Well more than some. But I’m starting to get tired of them. Maybe I’ll be forced to go back to reading when I get bored of YouTube.

November is a between month for me. Halloween and Christmas. Thanksgiving doesn’t mean much when most of your family is gone and you don’t have a lot of friends. Christmas isn’t the same either. But Halloween and Christmas the whole world celebrates publicly and it’s nice to watch the children enjoy the holidays. Tis the season as they say.

Gotta go. Catch you on the flip side. Stay tuned for the next installment.

0

October 2025

Halloween is just around the corner!

Halloween is my favorite holiday though I do not really celebrate it. There are not many social events here, small town. We have a yearly craft festival and put up holiday decorations around the square but rarely does that translate into social events even at the local senior center. However I still have that wonder towards Halloween that I had as a child. I love dressing up as a character and being that inner child/person even if only for a few hours. If I ever win the lottery I plan to make a yearly Halloween event wherever I land in October.

Speaking of the craft festival, I didn’t sell much. I did talk to quite a few people, but it didn’t translate into sales. I have an in-person event on the 11th so I’ll see how that does.

Still haven’t been reading or writing much. In fact I haven’t read the September book club book and reviewed it yet. I just haven’t been very ambitious. My muse is being very fickle, playing hide and seek. It hides while I seek it. So nothing got done last month except procrastination.

Mama cat moved her kittens from under the trailer. She only has four now with her. Makes me smile to see them try to eat the cat food with their tiny teeth. They are so cute.

I’ll be putting up the skirting around the trailer this month. The cold weather will be here before we know it and I want to make sure the cold wind stays out from underneath my trailer. Now that the kittens are out I don’t have to worry about them and can seal it the best I can. Duck tape added to my shopping list. It’s a good sealant.

Time to publish this. Stay tuned for the next installment.

0

September 2025

Greetings!

September is here meaning Hootin An Hollarin. The craft fair starts the third Thursday of the month at 530 p.m. with music and pageantry that night and full on fair Friday and Saturday. There will be demonstrations and games as well as the craft displays. I have the same booth as I’ve had since I’ve started doing the fair. It’s convenient to both food and the necessity(porta potty). I have pubbed two books since the last fair so perhaps I may get a sale or two from that. There will also be keychains and bookmarks I’ve done. Hopefully we will have a good turnout.

One of our female ferals had a litter of kittens under my trailer where a pipe is closed in with insulation. I think that she was there when she had went into labor and decided to keep them there, at least until she can scout a better location near by. 5 little shrimps. They’ve been there for about two weeks now, maybe longer as I wouldn’t have noticed them except that they cried that day. Looks to be 3 tabbies and 2 greys as far as I can tell. I’ll try to snag a pic of them when mama leaves.

New month, new book club book. This one is a paranormal romance I think so it shouldn’t be too much of a struggle for me to read as I like that kind of book.

I’ve been following a youtube channel guy who’s renovating a house in the middle of a forest overseas and a woman in the UK who bought a rundown house at auction to renovate. So I haven’t really been writing or reading much. My muse is just not in a hurry right now since I’ve finished writing that book. I think the intensity it pushed tired it out. But I plan to get two novellas done before the end of the year.

This one’s gonna be short. The ferals are waiting for their lunch outside in the shade between my door and where the food bin is. Stay tuned for the next installment.

0

August 2025

Already 8 months into this year. Time seems to be going both fast and slow. The months seem to be coming fast but during the month it seems slow.

Been reading more than writing. My muse is being somewhat quiet this month which is nice in a way after the way she was, however I need her to get into gear and get this WIP done so I have something new for Hootin An Hollarin. But my muse is fickle, and other muses can hop in and take over. As I said last month herding plot bunnies is hard; those hind legs really pack a oomp when they hit, and they can be vicious and tenacious. The quiet ones get overwhelmed if I don’t keep at it. Sometimes even if I do.

Started on the book club book for this month. I just can’t seem to get into it though. I’ll get it read & reviewed but it ain’t gonna be easy. It might just be because I’ve been reading cozy mysteries and this definitely ain’t. It’s a suspense. Which I normally like. However I just can’t relate to this book. I don’t know.

The ferals have been lying in the shade all passed out this last week since the heat index has been around 105* on the ‘cool’ days and the humidity has been around 85%. There’s plenty of water. Even the kittens have been napping. Our weather lady said it will be cooler this coming week and we may even have some rain. We’ll all have some relief. Still haven’t named any of the kittens. Only 7 of them show up consistently.

Breaktime is over and I have to go outside and check the water pans before I do anything else. AS I said there’ plenty of water but I like to keep them full as possible. Stay tuned for the next installment.

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑