Friday Five for September 14th

1. Good week for writing again. I finished the first draft of my newest novella on Sunday night. It's sitting to the side and cooling off as I start the second novella in the series. I'm pleased with the way the ending went. I was afraid I'd get stuck, because I couldn't see the ending. Yet my muse did not fail me. The new novella is starting off well too.

2. FEARLESS has still been doing well. Over 2000 copies sold/downloaded. Huzzah! It's weird to think that many people are reading something I wrote. Just because I'm curious about how sales go for other writers, I'm posting my stats for you.

Amazon Kindle (free): 1339

Smashwords (free): 666

CreateSpace: 11

B&N: 0

Kobo (free): 0

3. Yesterday evening, a lady with a clipboard actually heeded our "no solicitors" sign on the front door!

4. Preschool is still going well. The boy will protest when going there and cry a bit after I leave, but then he's good for the rest of the morning. Everyone comments on his good manners and intelligence. I'm a proud mama. Today is the school's fall picnic. Socializing isn't my strong point. My husband is going to come during his lunch hour so I won't have to go it alone.

5. Yesterday while my son was in school, I decided to go some random place without a child in tow. Where did I end up going? To the library, of course! It's blissful to browse the shelves without having to chase a toddler around.

Have a wonderful weekend, folks!

Friday Five for September 7th

1. It's been a productive writing week. I finished a sci-fi short story for this month. I had another short story rejected and submitted it to another press. I'm over halfway done with my new novella. If I can keep up the pace, I might be able to finish the first draft on Sunday.

2. My productivity has been largely related to the fact I haven't been writing blog posts and making my rounds. I miss you guys, but I know you all understand we need breaks now and then. I'm going to continue to be around only for a little this month. If I can keep up my great writing pace, I'll be able to start putting out my new series by November or December.

3. I'll be visiting M. Pax on Spacedock 19 next Wednesday. We'll be talking about the paranormal. Make sure to stop by and have a drink with us.

4. My son is loving preschool. Yet he still has some problems being separated from me. And yeah, maybe I have a little anxiety about letting him go on his own too. Tuesday was a rough day. He refused to let go of me for over an hour. I stayed the whole morning with him. Yesterday was much better. I researched techniques to deal with separation anxiety and put them to good use. He made it through the whole morning without me. I'm so proud of him.

(That's my boy having thoroughly enjoyed a chocolate turn-over!)

5. I'm researching mini laptops. I want to get something small and light to carry around for writing. I don't need anything fancy, but I want something durable and with great battery life. Any advice and recommendations are welcome.

Friday Five for August 17th

1. I wrote a new flash piece, a twist on the myth of Cassandra and Apollo, and submitted it. I'm still keeping up with my goal this year to write one/submit one. Though, it's the only goal I've managed to keep. Time is slipping by so quickly, and I'm far behind on my other projects.

2. My steampunk Cthulhu short story that I wrote earlier this year was the one I really wanted to get accepted. It was short-listed. I was eager to contribute to the Mythos, but alas, my story was cut. I consumed a lot of ice cream and wallowed in the rejection. Now I'm making a few little adjustments and I'm submitting it to the YA steampunk anthology, REAL GIRLS DON'T RUST. The other story I started for that anthology fizzled out. I had a great character and story idea for her, but then I started writing about this huge mound in the desert and the workings of the people living in it. It was more fantasy than steampunk. The two concepts clashed and didn't work. I'll have to separate them and keep them in my idea files for later use.

3. FEARLESS continues to do very well. It makes my head spin to think of so many people reading it. I'm still promoting it, but I realize that I need to work on my other books and get them out there. One of the biggest thing that helps a writer with sales is putting out more books.

4. My husband is away at Gen Con. It's just me and the boy for three days. The boy hasn't been napping much lately. It's going to be a long three days. On Sunday, it's Family Day at Gen Con and we're all going.

5. The boy starts preschool next week. We have orientation on Tuesday and his first official day is Thursday. He'll be attending two mornings a week with five other two-year olds. For the past few weeks, I've been having stress dreams about this. Dreams where I end up being put in the position to teach the class, that I have to run all the parents' committees, and that my son won't let go of me or, if he does happily go, something bad happens. I'm use to dreaming about fighting monsters. I don't know how to fight parent stress dreams!

Have a good weekend, folks!