Category Archives: General

Pulled in all directions

RedTulip_106622021_XSHello everyone, long time no post. I know, I know – I’m terrible at this most days. But since I had a couple minutes before I need to head out to meet a friend for lunch I figured, why not? The day is sunny, warm and getting warmer. Only bad thing is my allergies. Good gravy! Only downside to spring in my book is all the random sneezes that come from out of the blue and scare the bejeesus out of everyone around me. Although, I will admit, that part is kinda funny. I am not a dainty sneezer if you hadn’t guessed.

Lot’s on the go today, none of it writing though. I have lunch with one friend, coffee with another this afternoon and then I’m showing friend number two around town. She’s thinking about moving here for work and wants to get a lay of the land before she makes the call. Then I’m meeting up with a couple co-workers for dinner before coming home to collapse. Tomorrow’s a loose schedule with my friend from out of town, depends on what she wants to do but again pretty much no time for writing unless I’m up at the crack of dawn. Not being a morning person that sort of thought really makes me shudder.

Cup of coffee with notebook on deskI’m hopeful dinner tonight doesn’t go too long and then I can get in a couple hours. And if I’m even luckier I can talk my outta town buddy into doing a few things late morning, early afternoon. If it all works out then it’ll give me several hours to get some work in. Characters are talking to me which is a great thing. That means there will be progress. Jotted down a couple notes for what they’re talking about to use later.

Well, that’s about it folks. I’ve gotta get a move on or I’m going to be late. Have a fabulous day ~ Moira

Back on track

This past week at the day job has been, in one word, hellish. To keep it short we’ll just say we’ve been dealing with a lot over the last three months that culminated into the final push last week. So much to do in a very little amount of time. We did it, but we’re all feeling it in various aching muscles and pure exhaustion. Too many long hours with too many projects to try and fit into those hours. It left very little time for anything else.

OrangeDaisy_106231315_XSIncluding writing. Sadly I got absolutely none done the last week, the body and brain was too tired to do more than put one foot in front of the other. Got some done this weekend which was a relief. And with things starting to settle down this coming week I should have a chance to do even more. Since we hadn’t planned for things to be this disruptive at the day job not a one of us had figured we’d need to alter how we were doing things. Boy were we wrong. Here’s hoping we get it under control sooner than later.

In better news is the fact it’s actually spring around here. The sun is shining which led me to cleaning my windows. I’m now blinded – totally – from the light coming through. Should’ve left a few streaks I’m thinking, lol! Did a little spring cleaning yesterday as well, mainly because I had to finish finding the various items I’ll need for the most dreaded time of year – tax season. But I know have them all (I hope) in hand so I can do that once I receive the last piece in the mail that I require and get that off my list of things to do.

In the meantime – writing, writing and more writing. So I’m off to go dash through the shower and get back to it while the ideas are still churning. Have a great night ~ Moira

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Happy Easter!

Tulips on the white background.Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend, and enjoying their Easter however that may be. The weather’s supposed to be pretty good again today, chilly but mostly sunny from what the weather app on my phone tells me. If not for the family types I’d be out on my balcony enjoying it. Gotta enjoy the sun while you can get it.

Good news for any who are wondering, Living Victorious is progressing along nicely once more. I won’t have much time to work on it this weekend given everything else going on, but I’m getting there. The flow is back after a couple hiccups from the characters. For a short time they were torn about which way they wanted to go. Thankfully they must have “sat down” and figured it out because they gave me a huge gob last weekend and are still chatting as of when I wrote this post. Unfortunately they’re going a little faster currently than I think I can do the old fashioned way during my downtime sans computer – ie: hand writing in a notebook.

Anyway, I should let you all get to enjoying your Sunday. Don’t forget, if you haven’t already, go check out my joint blog with six other fantastic authors at Naughty Quills. We always have a lot to say, and it’s usually pretty helpful too. Mixed in with humor, real experience and plenty of fun.

Have a great day ~ Moira

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Gonna be a long day

Spring Time Change / Pink Blossoms and an Alarm Clock on an Old Wooden TableHappy Sunday everyone. The day is sunny, the sky is blue, the temperature warming up wonderfully and I have a loaf of bread baking in the oven. Yum, love that smell. Only reason I threw one in was because of the early hour I forced myself up at with having to spring the clocks ahead. I’m naturally a night owl, have been my entire life, so this whole losing an hour really mucks up my internal clock if I don’t get up super duper early on the Sunday it happens. Need to exhaust myself completely so I can sleep like the dead tonight faking out that internal clock into thinking everything is copacetic.

But the early hour rising means I can get several things done. So far I’ve checked off the list the regular household cleaning with only a quick vacuuming required a little later. Once the bread is out I’ll do up breakfast, do some website maintenance, put up a few posts on my blog for my fellow authors (hey all!) and then settle in to write by around the lunch hour. Working on LV3 and The Scoundrels 2 – going back and forth between them is helping my muse work through what she apparently sees as an issue on the one. No clue what her problem is, or maybe it’s the characters who are unsure. Either way, it’s working.

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Last thing to share before I go start breakfast, or I guess technically it’s brunch now given the hour (damn this screws me up), if you haven’t yet checked it out you should. What am I talking about? Well the new blog that seven Evernight Publishing authors, myself included, have started up. The Naughty Quills will have advise for new authors, perhaps the occasional wisdom nugget to share and likely more than a few laughs too. We are also now accepting suggestions for topics. If nothing else you should check out the site. We’re quite eclectic in our writings, time zones, and places of residences.

And that’s all I have for you. Time to top off my coffee and get busy. Have yourself a fabulous day ~ Moira

The gameplan

 

Spell Check, word cloud concept 9Laundry’s in the dryer which means it’s finally time to download VIPER, The Scoundrels MC book 1 to see what editing notes in the doc I have and what all needs to be done. I received them over the long weekend and since then haven’t had two seconds to do more than briefly glance at the editor sheet with her notes. For the most part it sounds pretty damn good. A few spots I need to fill in to make everything smoother, and a couple goofy things that obviously I wrote while half asleep. Ugh! Really need to stop doing that.

Once that’s off my plate the rest of the weekend is for writing. Which means more work done on book 3 of the Living Victorious series. Many readers have asked when this one is coming out. Unfortunately I’ve had a hell of a time getting back into the groove since Christmas. The extra long break and a shake up around work, nothing horrible mind you – just extra hours, extra work, and no extra help or bump in pay – mucked up my rhythm. Gotta get my groove back basically.

Last thing I need to do is load some more of my writer friends onto the blog for the coming weeks – been slacking there sadly. But I can do that during my breaks when I need a moment to clear the brain fog out.

Beyond that it will be lots of coffee, many snacks, and pounding the keys until my hands cramp and I need to find something else to do for a little while. I hope everyone has a great weekend and I’ll update soon. ~ Moira

Chilly, breezy Saturday

beautiful woman inspirer of the artist and composer

At least the sun is shining, so that’s a plus. It’s a great day to stay hunkered down and writing, which is what I’m attempting to do with my hyped up muse bouncing off the walls in my head. She’s all over the map which means focusing on the one story I desperate want to get done is a definite challenge and a half.

Since it’s been a while I figured I should do some updates on what’s been going on. The main reason for no postings in the last month has been work. We’ve got a lot of changes happening there along with several interruptions that had doubled up my work, and completely ruined my normal schedule. Long hours meant very little time to do anything else, including writing. Quite the irritation that was I have to say.

But in better news I’d submitted a book to start up a new series right at the beginning of the New Year and it was accepted. VIPER is book one of my new MC series, The Scoundrels. I have a page started for his story with the unedited blurb included for anyone interested in finding out more. Not much to say yet except that he, and his MC brothers will be coming to Evernight Publishing in March 2016. My first published book of 2016 point of fact.

I am working on the next book in the Living Victorious series, currently and tentatively titled The Voice. This is Jeremy’s story, who as readers of the series know is the lead singer for the band Victorious. His story has given me several fits, may be leading to ulcers and is generally a pain in my ass. It took me several fits and starts to even get the story moving along, but now I’ve found some sort of pace that seems to be working. No date yet set for all those who are wondering since I haven’t even got halfway quite yet. Once I have him and his leading lady, Melanie, submitted I will let everyone know and what the projected date of release might be. No promises but I’m hoping to have his story submitted sometime in February – barring any more issues with these two characters.

I think that is about it for the time being. I will have more things to announce in the coming days so stay tuned for that stuff. In the meantime I am off to get a coffee refill and slap around my characters and my muse in the hopes to get something productive done today. ~ Moira

Happy New Year 2016

Another year has come and gone, and we face a clean slate. A brand new beginning with nothing yet set in stone or decided. I hope everyone makes it a fabulous year, but whatever you do make it your own. Decide what you want and go for it, no one can make decisions for your path but you.

I don’t make New Years resolutions, never have, never will. While I may have a vague idea what I want to achieve in the year to come it’s never set in stone, that’s not who I am. I much prefer to take things as they come, adapt, and make decisions as I need to. Yes, I am a very “by the seats of my pants” sort of girl.

My only plans for 2016 are to keep on writing and to hopefully grow even more than I have in the last (almost) two years of my writing career. I will even keep working on my comma addiction (every editor I’ve ever had will likely approve of that one!) and keep expanding my general repertoire. I can’t say what I’ll yet be bringing to the New Year except for the Living Victorious series. Book three is slowly coming together, this one’s a bit harder to write than the others due to a number of factors (damn characters!!) but the muse and I are getting there. I also plan to write more stories of a holiday specific nature, to go with my Christmas story of 2015, but that’s just a general idea with nothing yet written in stone.

So I will end this post with wishing all my friends, family, readers, and fellow authors (no matter who you write for) all the very best in 2016. Prosperity, and peace to you all. ~ Moira

The aftermath…

Fotolia_80726222_XSWell, thank goodness that’s over, ha! Actually I had a pretty great Christmas with the family, and obviously survived. Though it was by the skin of my teeth I’ll admit. Hopefully everyone was able to enjoy some time off, sleep in, and maybe relax a little. I was lucky and got plenty of downtime.

The day prior to leaving for the gathering of the familial sorts I was at work, with a sick salesman. He had a cold, and I thought I’d dodged a bullet with that but really I should have known better. Boxing Day the cold I’d managed to hold off until that moment kicked in full force. Stuffy head, runny nose, hacking, wheezing, the whole nine yards. Yup, fucker got me sick. On the plus side I managed to not give it to anyone in my family so that’s a blessing, and I am on the road to recovery. Thank you modern medicine – I don’t utilize you all that much, but when a killer cold kicks my ass I am ever so grateful you are there. That and the pharmacy guy who, once he finished snickering (yeah, I saw you) helped me narrow down what I needed to kick this thing to the curb.

Didn’t get any writing done as of yet. A head full of cotton is not exactly what I would call helpful to the creative process. The muse doesn’t like my coughing or something, who knows. Not that I could have concentrated much, I was more concerned with ensuring the box of Kleenex never ran out. But I still have six days off work that I can hopefully put to good use and get some things, if not 100% done, much closer to completion. I’d be a much happier camper if I had several things off the writing plate and into my publishers hands. So too would my readers I’m thinking, lol!

Today is for unpacking, laundry, and generally getting myself sorted out. If the head-fog clears out a little more I will get some writing in before the next dose of fabulous medication is needed to hold the sniffling, sneezing, hacking, and wheezing at bay. But if not I am not overly concerned. I have a few notes of things jotted down for where various works will be going to so when I do finally get to writing I have a game plan. The muse did surface long enough over the last few days to do that much. Therefore we have a plan of action and attack for the writing.

I think that’s it currently. No big plans for New Years, not that it’s ever really been my thing, so likely it will be writing and watching the various parties across the country as they go down. Well, that’s it for the moment. Hope everyone has a great New Years whatever your plans are. ~ Moira

Time to prepare

preparing for christmas with gift box and ribbons‘Tis the season for chaos, which means it’s time to figure out what I’m doing before I start running around like a chicken without a head. Not a pretty sight. I have my shopping lists – short this year since I bought lots online, but there are still a few things I have to purchase in store. I have done some shopping to date … unfortunately there is more yet to do. *sigh*

On top of that I have to keep my muse, fickle bitch, in line. She’s got me jumping between three stories, one being the next chapter in the Living Victorious series, and two others that are totally different. But I’m staying mum on them for the time being, at least until she gets through her “mood”. If I talk about them too much she’ll lose interest and then start this crap all over again a few months down the road.

In other news, because I’ve had enough talk about that muse of mine, I’ve got my tickets booked to go see the family persons over Christmas. And I have my holiday schedule which means several days of uninterrupted writing before having to head back to the day gig. I’m rather happy about that, my hope is to pump out at least two of these stories and get them submitted by or just after the New Year. Fingers crossed!

Other than that life is good, our weather isn’t too bad considering it’s the middle of December and we’ve only had a couple minor blizzards that really didn’t do much. Which I’m okay with, means no snow to slog through to and from work. And on that note I’d better get to some of that writing I mentioned earlier. Lots to do ~ Moira

Planning ahead

I know no one wants to be thinking about any of this just yet. Believe me, I’m right there with you. But since I want to do this for my readers I need to be ahead of the game on it. Which means I need to start now to ensure there is time to get everything ready, and out. I am talking about Christmas Cards. Yup, that’s right. If you are interested in getting a card from me this year you can sign up via the Google form I’ve set up to take the requests. To access the form all you need to do is click the image below, or the one on my side bar.

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I am also throwing in some extra little gifts for a select number of readers who sign up for a card. Anything from a free ebook* from my backlist, an Amazon Gift Card, to a seasonally appropriate piece of jewelry might be included in with your card. Those who sign up earliest have the greatest likelihood of receiving a gift. Don’t slack off if you want a goody – and do not forget to click the button at the bottom of the form to toss your name into the hat for a gift. Forget that and you won’t be in the running as I only have a set number of gifts to give away.

* If you were chosen to receive a free ebook there will be a little card with a six (6) digit number and my email included in the card. Email me that six (6) digit number, the title of your choice which you can check out on my Bookshelf (Anthologies are NOT included), and the format of your eReader (ie: Kindle, Nook, etc).