Category: This & That

I’m baaack???

My site changed servers a few months ago, and because I’ve been busy recovering from a car accident and working on updated versions of Deceiving Derek and Catching Claire in Love & Other Calamities – and also writing the next three titles in the series, Before Brady, Just Janie, and Trusting Trey – I didn’t realize my blog was broken. I kept trying to publish new posts, to no avail. I spent hours on tech support with my host, to no avail. They even switched my customized Muse Interrupted theme to the 2021, theme and I still couldn’t publish a post.

Most aggravating.

I was about to hire a website designer to fix things when I decided to do ONE LAST TEST. And, well, whatever was glitching for weeks before I went away to trek through Ireland for a month is no longer glitching!

This is good because I really, really, really need to redesign my website, and I want to move it to a WordPress-based site because my web design software is on an old computer I only keep for the software. I need to get with the times and make things mobile-friendly.

So redesigning my site is on my To-Do list for this year.

That said, because I’ve been away from publishing for so long, like 5 years, I made the decision not to put any of the books in Love & Other Calamities on pre-order until all 5 are revised and edited. I’ve learned that when it comes to my neck, skull, and shoulder injuries I just need to put my health first, and besides who wants to read a connected series with months and months between releases?

If you’ve stumbled upon this post and you’ve been wondering, What happened to Cindy? Yeah, I got whacked, multiple times, from behind. And it wasn’t as fun as it sounds. 🙂 I’m now seeing a pain management specialist, getting nerve block injections every 3 months or so, and, on top of my other therapies (of which there are many), I finally feel like I can get on the path to publishing again. I can’t spend much time at the computer. I do 2-3 hours a day of physio, strengthening and yoga just to TRY to get to 4 hour days – with breaks that interrupt my flow. I would really love to get 4 to 5 4-hour writing days a week. I’m not there yet. I can get maybe 2 hour days. I can do a 3 hour day but will pay for it the next day.

I am determined, even as I am reminded that those 6 hour days are lost to me forever. So I’m gonna go ahead with my plan not to put Love & Other Calamities on pre-order until the editing process is complete.

For my readers, that means some aggravating waiting. But I thank you for your understanding.

When the updated versions of Deceiving Derek and Catching Claire are on sale, I’ll let you know here. I won’t be creating new website pages for the series – I will just be putting the links here and/or pointing you to pages hosted on a site like Books2Read or my SleekBio. When I design my new website, I WILL create separate pages for each title, but because of my injuries it seems not a very wise use of my limited time to make 3 new website pages on an old computer with old software and THEN redesign the entire site.

Thank you for your understanding!

PS. You never know, I might change my plans and update my old site before redesigning the new site. If so, I’ll also announce that here.

Testing

Just testing

Haven’t been able to publish a post in forever.

No idea why.

Happy Friday the 13th!

A friend from high school turned 58 today on Friday the 13th! She was born on a Friday the 13th, and, guess what? 5 + 8 = 13. That’s pretty lucky. For years, until I was 13 and met this friend and another born on April 13th, who both set me straight and showed me calendars from the year of our birthday to prove how wrong I was, I thought I was born on a Friday the 13th in January.
 
Turns out I was born on a Wednesday. My mom had 3 kids close together and couldn’t remember the day of the week I was born. My dad only knew he was working out of town and came home on Wednesdays and Fridays. So I was therefore born on one of those days. Thirteen years of thinking I’d been born on Friday the 13th flew out the window! I had to console myself with being born on the 13th day of the 13th month.
 
Happy birthday to everyone born on the 13th of a month, but especially to the Friday the 13th babies! It’s not unlucky. We’re a bit weird, but, hey, weird is wonderful. Embrace it!

Quick Palm Springs Break

I recently returned from a week’s visit to Palm Springs with my husband. This gave me a great chance to see where my parents spend their winters. My first time in Palm Springs, and I loved it. Palm Springs has a great, laid-back vibe, and, well, it kinda reminded me of Fred Flintstone’s Bedrock City. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Bedrock City is based on Palm Springs (I shall have to google that and see if I’m right).

We had some “bad weather” (aka clouds) while there, but still plenty of pool time. Had a chance to visit the zoo and also ride the Aerial Tram. Here’s a shot of me with my Dad at the top of the tram.

Here’s another of my husband playing with the big rocks:

And me, afraid of slipping down the slope, so this is as far as I got:

I usually post photos on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. I’m trying to get better at doing it here.

Did you have a chance to take a break somewhere warm this winter? I’m now back to snow, which thankfully is finally melting (slowly…so slow…ly…).

A Slushy Walk

Between bouts of clouds and slushy snow, it’s a beautiful day. Ghost of Allie pulled me away from my laptop and took me for a walk. She’s much faster now that she’s not in earthly form. We happened to pass the house of one of my “old man friends” from the dog park. There were two special old guys with dogs with the same name (different breeds). Both called Shadow, humans named Bob and Jim. I remembered their names by thinking of Jim-Bob Walton. Bob passed away from an aggressive cancer maybe over a year ago. Maybe longer. His Shadow died a week later. Jim continued to walk to the park even after his own Shadow died. But then Allie and I changed our patterns, and I stopped seeing Jim.

What a delight to find Jim out shoveling snow today (he’s in his late 80s last I knew). I didn’t know if he was still around or not. I don’t know if he recognized me, but we chatted, and I was so pleased Ghost of Allie decided to drag me on this walk. It just lifted my spirits to see Jim still in his huge house and still obviously managing. Way to go, Jim. Thinking of Bob. Jim-Bob Dog Park Old Man Friends…I’ll remember you both fondly.