A writer really does wear several hats. Many writers have day jobs or have side businesses tied in with their writing to survive financially until they become recognized authors on a bigger scale. Some are website designers, book cover designers, run their own publishing companies, owners of review sites, or still maintain their outside jobs not related to writing.

My scoring job was short-term but gave me some money to spend on promo which is expensive. If only I could just write and have someone else do all the marketing and mailing of promo items. I hate packaging pens, bookmarks, and other items to mail to several places. And postage rates keep rising. But at the same time, I’m proud of my books so want people to know about my releases.

I’m busy working on marketing for my new August release, WHITNEY IN CHARGE. I’m also having bookmarks designed and choosing other promo items. I’m trying to keep the cost down so I make a profit. It’s great there are cheaper print companies online now so authors can save money by uploading their own designs. Goddess Fish is doing a virtual book tour for Whitney in August.

My very first editor, Ansley, at Samhain loved my writing and gave me the three contracts for the books I have with this publisher. When she left before my books were edited for publication, I was assigned to a new editor. I had a great working relationship with the second editor, Linda. One problem though is she doesn’t care for what I write. She likes hot reads, especially erotic romances. She’s not interested in accepting straight contemporary if it doesn’t have a lot of hot sex scenes. I submitted my novella to her recently with hopes that she would offer me a contract. Wrong. She said, “The sex scenes aren’t hot enough for our lascivious readers. Straight contemporary is a hard sell here.”

I’m not going to change my novella by making the two small sex scenes hotter. I will submit it elsewhere. Wish me luck! I love this short and think readers will enjoy it, too.

Doesn’t Amanda look cute in her new suit? And I think there’s something wrong with April’s camera. I really don’t have that much gray hair.

Michael and April

Sorry I didn’t have time to post on Friday. We were busy all day with getting ready for Amanda’s graduation party. After we painted the fence, we planted flowers next to it. Tom has plans for a rock garden in some spots in front of the fence so he hauled sand to put there, too. On Saturday April brought balloons for the party. April and Emily helped prepare the food. Emily finished the poster of pictures I started for Amanda. Actually I hoped Emily would take this project over when she came home. I never thought of using a display board (the kind kids use for science projects) for our older kids when they had their graduation parties until I saw one at another party we attended. Christina made a scrapbook for Amanda and it turned out really cute. I really appreciate our daughters pitching in to get things done for the party.

It was hot and humid on Saturday, but the pool water was perfect. Amanda’s friends enjoyed the pool and slide a lot. She received nice cards and gifts from teachers, classmates, and relatives. Now we are finished with high school graduation parties! Amanda’s our youngest child.

Sunday afternoon Tom and I relaxed in the pool and ate by the pool in the evening.
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UPDATE ABOUT BART’S SURGERY:

The bad news is Bart’s right hand was severed more than they realized. They opened up more area on his arm so could see all the nerves and everything better. Instead of one artery severed like they thought on Sat., he had 2 arteries, 4 tendons and all the nerves cut. There are 3 arteries pumping blood to the hand so only one artery wasn’t cut. We were not happy that he was sent home in so much pain. The nurse said a pain block would be given to numb his nerves but they never gave him one.

I am thrilled with my new cover! Thank you, Jenifer, for designing it - it’s awesome! After this week (too much going on in the family right now) I’ll post about my virtual book tour and new contests to promote my Whitney book.

Here’s the blurb:

TV producer Whitney Benson’s older sisters surprise her with a skydiving adventure to help her move on with her life after becoming a widow, and maybe meet a new man.

Whitney Benson is tired of her older sisters’ attempts to fix her up with every single male they meet. Shannon and Regan cross the line when they arrange for her to go skydiving with the simple excuse that more guys like to float in the air than women.

Even without her sisters’ help, Whitney meets two eligible bachelors, Jack and Ben, who constantly battle for her affection. Which one will she choose? Both men make Whitney realize, even a heart shattered by her husband’s death, can once again be made whole.

But did she have to fall off a cliff to learn that?

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UPDATE ABOUT BART:

His surgery will be tomorrow. We are NOT happy about this long wait since he fell on Saturday. I’m going to the hospital but Tom will stay home with Sara and Amanda. I wish he could go, too, but usually only one of us can go when something major happens.

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Going outside before it gets up to 90 degrees to paint the fence next to the pool. Amanda’s graduation party is Saturday so we are trying to get as much done as possible! Fun, fun, fun…will share pictures. I’m glad I painted the downstairs bathroom and it’s all done.

I still can’t believe what happened on Sat. Life can change in a second. What should have been a happy day turned into a sad one.

We were helping our son Bart move from his apartment to his first new house. He and his fiancée Lea were so excited about the move. While he was carrying a king size mattress down the stairs with Lea’s stepfather, Bart slipped on a step and fell down the steps and went thru a glass window next to the front apartment door. The glass shattered and ripped open his right arm. It was awful and so scary seeing him hurt like this and blood was all over the place. He lost so much blood. Lea made a tourniquet out of a sheet, and it was covered in blood before the firemen came and then the ambulance arrived.

He was put on oxygen and taken to the hospital. But get this, they had to stitch him up and put a cast on even though he needed surgery. He has a torn tendon, nerve, and artery. They couldn’t keep him when they were too busy to do the surgery. The insurance company doesn’t like to have someone in the hospital for a couple of days and wait for surgery and a specialist to be available. They said the surgery would be on Tuesday or Wednesday but it hasn’t been scheduled yet. I can’t believe they aren’t in a hurry to get it done. They will repair everything when he has surgery.

We pray Bart can have the surgery on Wednesday and get it done. His surgery should take 4 hours.

We are thankful he put his arm out when he fell because otherwise maybe his face or neck would have been cut instead. Even though it’s bad enough what happened, I shudder to think how it could have been worse. Also the glass was not a safety glass
and it broke in so many pieces.

Lea will make Bart a wonderful wife. She had to go to five drugstores to get his prescriptions filled because it was Saturday evening and many of them were closed. She took off work to make sure he doesn’t overdo it while waiting for his surgery. Just a year ago, Lea wrote about her visit to see her dad who lives in Australia. You might remember all the lovely pictures she shared about her trip. She gave a lot of information about Australia.

And I need to get Amanda to bed. She’s watching me type this. She started her summer job today and did well. She cleaned the school lockers.

Lea and Bart

Thanks to Samhain author and fellow blogger, Jennifer Shirk, I’ve been tagged.

I have to answer the questions below. Then, I “tag” four more people, asking them to post their answers to the same questions.

Four Movies that I can see over and over.
1. A Knight’s Tale with Heath Ledger (love some of the actors in this movie)
2. Bourne movies (liked all three of them)
3. Bridget Jones’s Diary
4. Legally Blonde (the first one, definitely never want to see the second one again)

Four Places I have lived.
1. Findlay, OH
2. Columbus, OH
3. Wabash, IN
4. Batavia, OH

Four TV shows that I love to watch.
1. Friday Night Lights
2. The Mentalist
3. Grey’s Anatomy
4. Desperate Housewives

Four places where I have gone on vacation.
1. Bahamas (daughter took me on a cruise)
2. San Diego, CA (another daughter flew me to CA)
3. Myrtle Beach, SC
4. St. Petersburg, FL (and 4 other places in Florida)

Four favorite foods.
1. Garlic Beef Enchiladas
2. Lasagna
3. Cheesecake
4. Ice Cream

Four websites I visit daily
1. http://sibcycline.com (to see if any new house listings in our area)
2. My own blog! (to read comments - don’t have the automatic thing where comments go to my email box)
3. several author blogs - too many to list - why I don’t get writing done -:)
4. my author and reader yahoo groups

Four places I would rather be.
1. The beach
2. Outside riding my bike but is going to rain AGAIN!
3. Movie theatre
4. Bookstore

Four things that I would like to do before I die.
1. Would like to see my books on shelves in many stores - bookstores, of course, then Target, Wal-Mart, and etc. A front display would also make me happy. Hey, that’s not asking for too much.
2. Travel places I’ve always wanted to go.
3. Love to go to Hawaii with my husband for an anniversary celebration!
4. I’d like to see my Christmas book made into a movie. It’s always been special to me.

Four novels I wish that I was reading for the first time.
1. Knight in Shining Armour by Jude Deveraux (If you haven’t read this book, you must! And I don’t even like time travel but loved it.)
2. Mirror Image by Sandra Brown (one of her earlier books)
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Morning Glory by Lavyrle Spencer (so many unforgettable characters)

Four people to tag.
1. Marianne Arkins
2. Ceri Hebert
3. Kate Davies
4. Allie Boniface