Kidding, right???

The old saying another day another dollar.  Hmm did they mean spent or earned?  In my case so far it means spent.  Erg!!!  I wonder alot about some of the old sayings.  I find some of them to be as true today as they had been when they were first spoken.  I love old sayings, it gives you something to say when you can't think of anything else.  LOL
I read Slang Words today and Joan Reeves says this is another slow year for e books and I am going WHAT!!!  Great, I really may need to look for a day job.  Gees!  I want to be a published and read author. It is all I have ever wanted to be.  I guess I will have to suffer for my art!!!  Okay enough dramatics.  LOL  Do you think e books sales have slowed down?  I really haven't been involved with them long enough to know.  Luck of the Irish? 
I received an email from the person creating the cover for my book Fainting Damsel.  Let me restate that, I thought she was creating.  The email ask if I still needed a cover for said book.  I closed the email down and did a few quick rounds of the house while raising my fists in the air and saying every bad word I know and I made up a few.  I have been waiting for that cover.  CRACKERS!!!!  I finally had myself under control and replied yes ASAP.  I hope she gets the hint.... 
It's like my momma always said, if you want it done right and in a timely fashion do it yourself.  Hmm, I may have to rethink this whole thing.
Hope your day is going better.
See you around the block

Hello, anyone there?

Have you ever felt you are alone in the world?  I get that feeling everytime I open this blog and it looks as if no one has been here.  Isn't it interesting enough?  Come on guys out of the millions of readers and bloggers there must be someone out there.  Can you tell I am having a bad day?  Yesterday and today the muse has decided to hide and make faces at me.  But then who could blame it, when there doesn't seem to be any interest in my book Second Chance at Amazon and Smashwords.  People it is only $2.99.
Okay, now on to something interesting.  First off my favorite blog has disappeared and I want to know who is guilty?  I loved reading and laughing through Absolutely Narcissim, and SOB it isn't there anymore.  But I did find K.B. Owen, Mystery Writer fun to read today.  Of course I find Sling Words very educational, but generally it is more for the known writers.  An unknown writer who is feeling neglected.  Shoot I may have to find a day job and at my age that want we easy. 
If you have been reading this,let me know.  Otherwise I could become very sarcastic.

I had to use two different covers because the cover I used for Smashwords was not big enough for Amazon and since I am not that handy I couldn't make the orginal bigger.  So if you can't beat them make a new bigger cover.  LOL
See you around the block.

Second Chance on Sale at Amazon

Have you ever been caught out in a storm on a road you have never been before?  Will it happened to me.  Mercy, I thought it would be a little bitty storm consisting of a few drops of rain.  I mean really is this the desert?  Does the desert receive rain?  In my mind I thought I would see tumble weeds and cactus.  Arizona was always in a drought cycle I thought.  So I blithly pass through the town of Tombstone headed toward my destination Bisbee.  The town built on the side of mountains.  When the first streak of lightening lit the sky followed by a deep roll of thunder, I had a feeling I may have biten off more then I could chew.  Mercy, the thunder echoed through the mountains like a mega phone does to your voice.  Geez, would it be safe to make a u-turn on a two lane road?  I looked at my GPS and realized it was the same distance either way I chose to go.  I decided to push forward come what may.  I came to Arizona for adventure and this was an adventure fighting against the elements.

She gripped the steering wheel so hard her knuckles were white, leaning forward she strained to see through the rain.  The wind shield wipers were not able to keep up with the sheets of water pouring from the sky and the waves of dirty water thrown up by the tires of her car.  The rain so thick, her car headlights only penetrated a few feet of the black ribbon of water that made up the two lanes of the road.  Thunder clapping loudly above her head made her jump and her car bounce toward the edge of the road on the passenger side.  She was freezing and sweating at the same time.  Icy fingers of fear held her in its grip as sweat ran down her back.  A soft prayer parted her lips as she fought the wind that tried to push her car closer to the edge of the road.  She had caught glimpses of a deep ravine running along side the road as lightening forked through the sky.  The storm had hit suddenly and violently.  Unlike any storm she had driven through before. She should have gotten a room in Tombstone for the night.  Instead she was driving up a two lane road toward Bisbee where she had reservations at the Copper Queen Hotel.

"Lord Love a duck," she murmured taking a trembling hand off the wheel to wipe the sweat from her forehead before it ran into her eyes.  She had thought it would be a little rain storm like back home.  For heaven sakes, this was the desert and it was suppose to be dry.  Grabbing hold of the wheel again with her free hand as a gust of stronger wind forced her car over a few inches.  She didn't know how long she had been driving through this hell and didn't dare take her eyes off the road to look at the dash clock.  All she knew was her entire body was trembling with fatigue and she wondered if she should stop where she was at until the storm passed, but the fear of another car coming up behind her and the fear of her car being washed over the edge of the ravine kept her going.  A clap of thunder made her ears ring and bright lightning striking next to her car caused her to let go of the steering wheel.  A scream tore from her throat as she felt her car go over the edge and roll over slowly again and again down to the bottom of the ravine.  It came to a jarring halt upside down.  She hung upside down crying and fumbling with the seat belt trying to get it to release.  Unable to get the clasp to open, she realized if she pulled gently on the shoulder strap she could loosen it and slide it over her shoulder freeing the top of her body.  Wiggling she felt the seat belt around her hips slide up a little and continued until she slipped through the belt and fell to the roof of her car.  Smelling smoke she searched for the glove box in the pale light given off by the dash lights.  Finding the glove box she opened it and searched for the large screw driver she knew was in there.  The lightening and thunder was moving farther away from her and the rain had stopped falling.  Finding the screw driver she held the handle in both hands as she drove it into the cracked door window on the passenger side of the car.  Gasping for breath and crying she continued to jab the window with the screw driver.  It was becoming smokier in the car and she knew it wouldn't be long until the fire became a blaze.  Figuring she had enough cracks in the shattered window, she crawled around to put both feet against the window and kicked with all her might.  The second kick the window gave and cold air swept into the car.  The engine burst into flame and she scrambled through the window realizing she needed to get away from the car.  Clawing and crawling up the side of the muddy ravine she reached the edge of the road and the blast from the exploding car knocked her unconscious.  A truck was slowly moving down the rain swept road from Bisbee when the passengers saw the fire ball in the sky.

If you want to find out what happens read Second Chance. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005OTK84A

I did it!

I finally uploaded my book Second Chance to Amazon.  Hopefully soon I will be able to upload my second book Fainting Damsel.  It is finished except for book cover and I almost have my third book finished, I haven't settled on a title for it yet.  It could be Parrot Talks, The Parrot Spills the Beans, Charlie Talks.  I haven't made my mind up yet, when I think about it, I think Parrot, but I'm not sure that title would work that will.  It is a romantic/mystery, I need a name that will grab people.  I'll keep working on it.
So far it looks like I have been typing this for myself, no readers.  But I am optomistic that someone, somewhere will start reading my blog.  Maybe I need to come up with an interesting story or life. LOL
See you around the block.

Gold in the hills

I have finished my second book "Fainting Damsel" and will soon have it in e book form. 
I have decided to write about something different in my blog besides my books.  My brother and I grew up in Arizona and we had parents who hunted for gold.  Everytime I hear the amazing price of gold now a days, I wish they had found that gold mine.  This little lady would love to be spoiled.  LOL Mom and Dad thought nothing of dragging two kids all over the desert in all sorts of weather.  We hunted for gold all over the bottom half of Arizona, which meant we had to endure the heat.  I don't remember the heat bothering us.  We had a swap cooler in our home, our cars had the windows rolled down for air to come in to cool the sweat on our bodies.  I remember a lot of laughter and being tired from lugging rocks back to the car.  Mom and dad checked the rock out once we arrived home to determine if they had gold.  Funny thing is we walked all over the Superstitions, Chiricahua, Dragoon, and Mule mountains to name a few and never found gold.  We also traveled into parts of New Mexico, but still no gold.  Now I realized, I don't think they were hunting for gold.  The gold was doing things as a family and enjoying each other's company.  What are some of your childhood memories?  I would love to hear them. 

Reading Blogs

I enjoy reading other writer's blogs and blogs by moms.  Main reason I feel connected to these people because I am a writer and because I am a mom of five wonderful grown kids.  Today at The Lipstick Chronicles Nancy Pickard wrote a heart touching blog "Home, Sweet Home".  It reminded me of years ago when I was in college (long, long, time ago) in sociology class the teacher told us the middle class would disappear and we would either be rich or poor.  No more middle ground.  As I listen to the news and see the changes in my own neighborhood I am reminded of her remarks.  The middle class is disappearing, will this recession slow down the disappearence of the middle class or will it speed it up?  As humans we have learned to pick ourselves up, brush the dirt from our back sides and try, try again.  I have always told my children as long as you believe in a God, (it didn't matter to me which religion they chose as long as they had something) and were willing to work hard, they could make it in this world.  Right now I am setting the example of being a laid off teacher, whose prospects aren't bright for a new job, because I am a babyboomer.  I have decided to work as hard as I can to reach a goal I put on the back burner as young adult busy with husband and children; to become a writer and have people read my books. Of course I never envision ebooks at the time.  I have my first finished book Second Chance on Smashwords and I hope to have more out there.  I have enough money to support me for a year, so I will be working flat out, but by the grace of God I will make it and be better for it.  I tell my kids to continue learning and striving for a better life.  I am proud of my kids and I want them to be proud of me.  Wish me luck.  See you around the block.

Rewrite?

Okay my first chapter is reading better.  I hate it when my book drags and I work very hard to keep the book moving forward.  Sometimes it seems the characters are lazy, but I keep pushing until they start moving.   I am hoping to have Fainting Damsel for sale soon.  The book cover is done, I need to finish the rewrite of parts.  LOL
 I have received some feed back on my book Second Chance.  I told them to go in and put their comments on Smashwords.  I hope they follow through with this.  My sales are slow so far but I hope it picks up soon.  I mean $2.99 for an ebook isn't too much, is it?
It rained yesterday and it was beautiful.  I stood on the front porch enjoying the cleaness and coolness of the rain.  We don't receive a lot of rain in Arizona, so even a drop is a big deal, especially if you live in an area were the temps. are very hot.
See you around the block.

Writing, The Muse is Working

I rewrote six pages of my new book "Fainting Damsel"  I plan to send to Smashword soon.  I realize I need to stop deleting pages from my writing.  The pages I rewrote yesterday are like the orginal pages I deleted.    Do You Have This Same Problem?   I really need to use the resource that microsoft office has and they will save my deleted work.  Errrrrr!  
Oh well, I think my new writing is better than the old story or at least I hope so.  LOL
Plan to rewrite six more pages on this book and hope I'm not writing what I have deleted once.
See you around the block.

Adventures in a Life

I am sore today.  I know your thinking, did she climb Mount Everest, swim the English Channel?  Sorry you would be wrong.  I am sore from moving boxes around in the shed hunting for a small CD that goes with my wireless card (my son said I needed it).  Didn't find it!  Son came over looked over the situation and asked where was my network cable.  My PC had been sat up wireless by another son a few years ago.  Moved boxes around shed for the second time.  Didn't find it!  Looked through closets, drawers because I knew I had one before.  We decide after I have spent hours on all of the hunting I needed to buy a new network cable to solve all our problems.  The wireless part to my laptop still works, but now my PC is hooked up to the internet with a cable.
I was worn out by the end of the day and my knees hurt.  LOL   Giving away my age by complaining about knee pain and soreness.  Oh well, need to get some writing done.  See you around the block.

It is Fixed!!

Son delivered my rebuilt computer.  Now I have to go through and sit up my sites and etc.  Fun, Fun.
Hope everyone is safe today and with family as we all remember 9-11.  This is something that will live forever in our memories, but not in our children and grandchildren's memories.  Especially since History of our country isn't taught in the grade schools any longer.  So it will be up to us to teach them about this time and other life changing events that have happened through history.   Someone, but I forget who said we need to remember the past, so we don't make the same mistakes again. 
This is all for today.  See you around the block.

The Horror!!

What is one thing that could happen to a writer who has all the stories they are working on in their computer??  You guessed it, that computer kicks up it's toes and dies.  OMG!!  I couldn't believe it and I try to get it to reboot, nothing.  Pull out my old laptop that has a mind of it's own.  It loves to wait while I am typing away and skip a line up into another sentence or it will decide to delete what I have just typed.  The edit button and undo are my close friends on this machine.  Well anyway to get back to the story from hell.  I email my youngest son, I knew he was at work and I don't like calling the kids when they are at their work place.  He calls me back and tells me he will be over later.  He takes out my driver (computer thing) and plugs it into this tiny little thing he brought with him.  He is able to down load all my files and desktop from my now dead computer onto my lap top from hell.  I mean I was in the middle of trying to format my book for Amazon when my computer died.  Ugh!!   Well it turns out my mother board is d.e.a.d.  He says he will have a new tower built for me by Sunday.  Yah!!!  It is great having a computer wizard in the family.  Oh will I'm not certain I want to try to format a story on this crazy lap top so I will put it off until I have my PC.  See you guys around the block.   Second Chance by Juanita Olson for sale at Smashwords.

What do you think?

Below is a picture of my book.  It is for sale at Smashwords.com
I am so thrilled my dream of finishing a book and having it out there for people to read has come true.
Title:  Second Chance               Author: Juanita Olson
REally you will enjoy this book.  It is a mystery/romance set in southeastern Arizona.
Let me know what you think.  
I may not be able to sleep tonight.  I keep looking up my book at Smashwords.
Need to look at my book again.
See you around the block.

I have done it!!!

What!!??

Does anyone else have trouble with their computer freezing?  I tell you, I thought the computer was suppose to be fast, but I can put in more commands than it can handle.  Wouldn't you think it would work through them chronologically?  Then my laptop has this little quirk, it likes to skip to another line during your typing or decide the whole paragraph should be deleted.  I have to remember to hit the undo button or I will lose it all.  I am beginning to think these machines do not like me.  It makes my writing an adventure in other ways than I expected. LOL
Maybe someday a new computer and laptop will appear on my horizon. LOL
Hope everyone has a great Labor Day.
See you around the corner.

Places in the Past

HI, I have been researching places in my state.  You ask why?  Because I have a book I want to set in Bisbee in the 1900s.  I have found some interesting things I did not know about Bisbee even though I lived about forty five miles from it.  Also Bisbee is the county seat and my husband and I were married in the
Bisbee court house by a judge.  The court house in Bisbee is an amazing looking old building built into the side of a mountain.  They have a bigger than life statue out front of a very well muscled man holding a sledge hammer.  Lord have mercy!!  The statue represents all the miners that have worked the copper mines in Bisbee. 
My question is have you researched your home area?  Think of the different ideas you could come up with for stories.  I know I now have a few buzzing around in my head.
See you around the block.

A teaspoon of sugar

Sometimes in moments of sheer anger I wonder who created the computer.  It thinks I work to fast and I think it works to slow.  Like a man it freezes.  Now I ask you is that fair?  Stupid computer!!  So I press more keys, button and etc.  Why can't it work through the commands logically?
Any how, I have finished my book and I am now trying to find a book cover for it.  I tried to design one myself and it isn't turning out great.  Do you think the problem could be I don't know what I am doing?  I really should take some computer classes. LOL
I am looking forward to cooler weather but the weather man says it is far in the future.  Okay...
Need to check facebook to see what my kids are up too.  Instead of calling they put it on facebook.  Hmmm
Need to work on my next book, but I may just play a game.  Do writers take the weekend off?
See you around the block.

Is summer over yet?

This summer has been hot, hot, hot.  But of course that is nothing new for Phoenix, but it has been hotter here than usual.  LOL
I have my book finished and now I am waiting on a cover.  I figure I will go through Smashwords, so I have gone through their formatting and set my book up how they want it.  It was not an easy task.  Especially since I seem to never fine the tab they say for me to look far.
This could explain why I get lost alot.  My kids are always teasing me about it.
I am having to learn alot let me tell you.  Blogging, twitter, facebook and reading other blogs to keep up on the news in the writer's world.
The blogs tell me I have to be interesting and my friends tell me I am.  I have a very dry sense of humor, and I can entertain myself and others with it.  I have worked at a lot of different jobs.  I raised four sons and one daughter and out lived one husband.  I have a bad habit of telling people how the cow ate the cabbage.  That sometimes gets me in trouble with one of my kids.  Oh well....  Learn and live is my motto.
See you guys around the block.