Newsletter - September 13, 2022

I know I keep whining week after week about how hard work is right now, but it really is quite spectacularly stressful. I’m not allowed to say why. On a positive note, I got a couple of compliments on how I’m handling the mayhem. I also got one good chewing out. So, mixed bag o’ chips. Just shoot some good vibes my way.

My older daughter's basketball team signed up for a cross-country run (team-building event), and my girl got 5th or 6th place (I've forgotten) in the girls' meet, which means she beat a lot of the track team. I'm always proud of how much effort she puts into the things she really cares about. (And she's way more competitive than I was... she must get it from her mother.)

Pic of my #1 fan snoozin’ while she waits for me to get on a work call so that she can bark.

Audible sent me a note saying they’d underpaid me. I’m trying to decide where to invest my 11.3 cents—maybe bitcoin (ba dum tss).

I’m giving myself low marks for writing this week—I definitely got more words onto paper, but I feel like the story went off in the weeds. The section I wrote was part of the plan, so I’m not sure why I feel that way, but I do.

Something big if it took out the Warder, I thought, imagining what size such a creature would have to be. All my instincts screamed at me to run… but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t leave my mother there.

I jerked away from a hiss in the tree near me and felt a mist drift over me again. I backed away from both trees, homing in on the noise and movement I’d glimpsed before, and I thought I spotted a creature scurrying to hide behind the tree.

It wasn’t big at all. Maybe the size of my forearm. And the way it moved… reptilian.

I eased back over to my mother, dagger ready. I reached down to roll her onto her back, and something charged from the tree, hissing and spitting its mist at me.

I thrust my dagger and caught it right in the neck.

The lizard was no bigger than my forearm—my blade went clear through it.

I grabbed my mother by one arm and dragged her a tiny distance toward the fire, and another lizard charged after its prize. I ended its charge and its life as quickly as I had the first, then continued dragging my mother over the dirt and brush to get her close to the light.

I also took up LaShaunda Hoffman’s Promotion Challenge. I’m really bad about promoting my books, and I’m pretty bad at promoting them. But, Why not try? (Did I steal that slogan from you, Marla? Or did I steal that from April Mills? I think I stole it from April.)

Since I mentioned it, this is the book I’m referring to from April. I read this many years ago, and I learned lot from it. One of my favorite things at work is when I manage to pair someone up with an effort they feel passion around.