A good day to write

Mar21

With the weather as dreary as it is, it’s the perfect day to stay closeted indoors to write. We had some heavy, and I do mean heavy fog last night into the morning. It started to clear up for a time but appears to be settling back in once more. For a while there I could barely see out the window, let alone identify any other buildings. Which of course had my mind spinning and settling on that movie “The Fog”. The 2005 version with Tom Welling in it. Sadly Tom was not at my side to help me through the rolling fog *pouts*.

After grabbing a cup of coffee I settled in to try and figure out what I wanted to write. I’ve had any number of ideas bouncing around in my head for new stories. Some might end up being stand-alone’s, while others could (potentially) be series. The only problem with setting my C&M series to the side for now is I feel very much at loose ends, and undecided about what to tackle first.

With that mildly terrifying thought in my head I have about 10 tabs open of different stories I’d sort of thrown ideas down on the page for. I’m hopping between them as thoughts come to mind, and trying to figure out where some might lead. To say it’s a day of expanding ideas would be an understatement. My brain is having a little trouble focusing on just one thing so I’m going with the flow. Never know where it might end up leading to after all.

Well that’s it. I need to refill my mug, and set up a post for tomorrow. Hope you all have a lovely day ~ Moira

Hello weekend!

Mar14

I am so very happy it’s the weekend. It was a very long week at the day job full of people who truly tested my limits to the max, and it wasn’t even the other employees this time. No this week it was the clients. Yet again I question why I’m a customer service rep. I am not a people person. I might be if I didn’t have to deal with the nine levels of customer service hell on a regular basis. And that’s just Monday morning before I’ve had coffee!

All I can think is, one less week until retirement, and way too many to count still to plow through. That and prison orange is so not my color! Which is pretty much the only reason I haven’t let loose the dogs o’ war on these people and told them what I truly think. May whoever you believe in have mercy on your souls (should you believe in them) if I ever win a lottery though.

But enough of that! The plan for today is to write, write, and write some more. I have a book to finish, and finish it I will. I’m hoping this weekend so I can take a day to give it a read through, but I’m making no promises. As soon as I think I have a plan in place someone wrenches the rug out from under me, and fucks up my grand plan six ways of Sunday.

So the only plan is to write. Then I’ll plan to write some more, and possibly even more. After all I have plenty of coffee, I even have some snacks on standby, and plenty of fresh air to keep me going. Though I may need to reconsider having a window open at all tomorrow. Doesn’t sound like Mother Natures quite done with smacking us around with winter yet. That’s okay. If the weather goes as it sounds like it might it’s all the more reason to stay safely tucked indoors, and -you guessed it- write!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend wherever you might be. Stop by tomorrow for something new I’m trying out along with some authors of much greater note than I. ~ Moira

PS – Did you know I’m on Authorgraph now? If you’d like me to sign an e-book of mine you’ve purchased I will. The link is on the side bar under my welcome message, and above my WIP progress bars. Click the link, pick the book, and when I get the notification I’ll go and sign it for you with a personalized message.

Sunny Sunday

Feb8

It’s more than a little chilly here right now, but the sun is out currently, and shining brightly so hopefully it warms up a bit as the day progresses. Though the weather network appears to be mildly confused on what’s going to happen with the local weather. Doesn’t matter really since I need to get to writing today.

So much to do, and so many weird ideas swirling around in my head. Hopefully some of them actually pertain to the stories I’m working on. Today’s focus will be on the C&M book, really need to get this puppy done and out to the readers. After that’s done I can focus on the other stories demanding notice from me.

On that note I’m off to get these opinionated, and stubborn characters in line, and see what I can drag out of them today in way of their story. Hope everyone has a lovely Sunday, talk soon ~ Moira

It’s Friday!

Jan30

I truly do love Fridays. They are the best day of the week, but only once I get to that 3:30 p.m. point of the day, and the end of the work week is finally in sight. Then the countdown begins in earnest. To know that in only minutes, no longer days or hours, you’re going to be free. FREE! LOL!

Nothing too exciting going on tonight though. A couple of movies, some household chores so I don’t have to worry about it later, and I’m thinking on ordering in something for dinner since my ambition to cook is nonexistent. But for the rest of the weekend I will be writing. Somehow I’m going to keep myself from being distracted, and get into my WIP’s. I seriously need to get book 6 of C&M done so I can get it submitted sooner than later. Plus my paranormal characters are scratching at my brain to get some more of their story down as well.

The key to all of this is getting to sleep at a decent time tonight. I’ve slept like shit the last few nights. I’ll just say it’s neighbor issues, and leave it at that. So I’ll hit the sheets early tonight, get in my full sleep cycle, and then get up to coffee and some freshly baked pain au chocolat. So-o-o-o-o-o good! One of our clients makes them and brought a whole bunch in. These are the best because they are pre-frozen so you can make as many, or as few as you want when you want them. They rise overnight, and then you pop them in the oven for a few minutes. You get fresh bakery goodness, nearly no mess, and the smell is to die for. Truly.

So on that note it’s time to go rescue and fold the laundry. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend ~ Moira

Weekend plans made

Jan16

Weekend mode: ON - inspirational quote. Yup, that’s right, I’ve made my plans. They involve a lot of relaxation, buckets of coffee, and a good bit of writing. Which I really do need to get to since yet again I’ve had another week of nearly nothing in the writing time department. Between work, and a (mainly because I forgot) unexpected outing with relatives for dinner, I’ve been otherwise distracted.

But it is Friday, and I have two glorious days ahead of me where I needn’t do anything more stressful than starting up the laptop, and choosing some mindless TV program to provide a noisy backdrop. Household chores have been mostly completed with only a couple minor things to attend to while coffee is brewing in the morning. Then I can settle down in my big comfy chair, turn on some noise, and get to work. At the moment not a single character is chattering, but with the folks I had to deal with today at work I’m not surprised they are quiet. The fact they haven’t run off screaming is a miracle. I was damn well tempted to run off screaming at no less than three different instances of yet more proof there are people out there who should be banned from ever reproducing.

I really hate having to be an adult someday’s. This whole “responsibility” thing really sucks. I need to find a job where I can taste test I think. I’d be good at it, and I’d enjoy it too I do believe. I love food. I wouldn’t want the sweets/desserts though. I’d truly hate to have to hunt down the person that eventually pushed me over the brink into hating them. Oh! Even better, alcohol tester. I think that would be one hell of a fun gig. As long as you didn’t have to go anywhere right after your day of work. Maybe they have you come in for a couple of days, you get a room and meals provided, do your job, and then stumble home for a few days to dry out before coming back in. Not sure my liver would appreciate me, but I think it could be an interesting addition for the resume at the very least LOL!

And now that I’ve slipped into the silly end of the posting pool I’m going to take that as a sign to sign off for the night. Hope everyone has a great night, and a wonderful weekend. ~ Moira

Thank goodness it’s Saturday

Jan10

wake up Happy weekend to everyone! Hope you are all enjoying it as much as I am. The last week was brutal attempting to get back into the swing of things after a much needed break over Christmas. Still not fully back into it all yet but I’m getting there slowly. The worst of it all was that first Monday morning alarm that went off. I am such a natural night owl that having to pry myself from the warm depths of my bed is a chore and a half. But I managed it, and then had to repeat it four more times until today. I admit, I did sleep in a little more than I normally would but it’s the weekend – WHO CARES?! LOL!

MFAntho-001-07012015-evernightpublishing-JayAheer2015-3Drender But there was one particularly amazing shining spot in my week I must share. Got home on Thursday to find a great little surprise in my inbox. The covers, and some other visual goodies for the Uniform Anthology that I’m honored to be a part of. They are so damn pretty, so a huge thank you to the artist Jay Aheer for these. They are truly stunning. It took me a while to finally pry my eyeballs off the bloody things, and then only because I realized I was drooling and had the nearly uncontrollable urge to lick my screen.

It’s pretty amazing to see it all begin to come together. It won’t be out for a while yet, projected release is in February but a date hasn’t yet been finalized. Depends on our poor editor for the books, and how quickly we all get through whatever changes are required of us I think. But as soon as I know more I’ll definitely be sharing the news.

On other fronts the final edits for C&M Security 5, Dangerous Pasts, along with the teaser/dedication have been submitted back to my publisher for the last look through on their end. Should hopefully be seeing a cover draft in the next few days. Can’t wait to share that with everyone. In the meantime though I need to get to work on book 6 of the series. I have a lot of ground still to cover before the big finale of that one that will tie up the last little threads left dangling in a couple of the other books.

After that who knows what I’ll be working on. I know what I should be working on, the two WIP’s I have in my docs, or even the new “something” that’s tickling my brain. But for now it’s all about focusing on the one to get it done and submitted. Easier said then done with a case of attention jumping going on right now. My brain is all over the map, twitchy, and may or may not have something to do with all the coffee I’ve pumped into my system. Oh well, eventually I’ll come down from whatever’s got me and my thoughts all over the map. In the meantime maybe I’ll just randomly open up a WIP and see what pops out. Until later ~ Moira

Here we go…

Jan3

Well it’s been a very chilly start to 2015 so far. We had a huge blizzard blow in yesterday, dumping a lot of snow onto the city, and brought some very unnecessarily cold weather with it. I know it’s winter and all, but it really wasn’t nice of Mother Nature to do that.

Thankfully I haven’t had any reason to go outside beyond sticking my nose out my balcony doors to see just how chilly it was. It was damn chilly I’ll tell you right now. So I pulled the blinds, turned on the TV to the Holiday Fireplace for some ambiance, grabbed more coffee, and got down to some writing. Or attempted to. Apparently all my characters went off on an unauthorized bender over the holidays, and still haven’t fully recovered.

I did manage to get in some stuff on my C&M Security book, but definitely nothing of significance. Which is okay I guess, the brain isn’t back into full gear as it is anyway so getting back at this slowly isn’t a horrific plan. Especially since I’m still figuring out my new laptop, and the fact it has a few interesting quirks I’m having to work around. Like a possessed mouse pad. Which raises another question, who was the bloody brainiac that though increasing the size of the damn mouse pad on a laptop was a good idea? Like I don’t have enough problems with the things, no-no, lets make the space even bigger and ten times more sensitive than all previous models. Great plan there.

In other news my place has never been so spotless. I’ve had more than a bit of time to clean, obviously since the characters went off on hiatus. Not even complaining a little. Before the holidays I was too busy running around like a crazed lunatic to give it more than a quick once over, so it was nice to do the down and gritty cleaning. Though my knees may hate me for a few more days from scrubbing my floor by hand lol!

And before I completely forget to mention this. There is still a few hours left to my publishers Holiday Hangover Blog Hop. I’m hosting on my blog, A Great New Read, and there are also many other great spots to get in on the action as well. You can start right [HERE] on my publisher’s site.

Well that’s it for this rambling blog post. Hope everyone’s having a great start to the New Year. Have a great night, a great weekend, and I’ll post again soon… ~ Moira

Officially on vacation!

Dec22

Out of office At least from the day job. I plan on taking a couple of “me” days off from writing as well, but I have edits to get done and sent back prior to the New Year, so there will only be a little rest for the weary. The rest of my vacation time will likely be spent pounding on the keyboard to get more of my stories done up. Thankfully though I can do that from the comfort of my home, in my jammies since I have ZERO interest in getting dressed when it’s uncalled for, and with an unlimited supply of coffee at my fingertips. Ahhhhh, bliss :)

In other news (like you care) I did complete all my shopping with the exception of one item that I’ve spent three months attempting to find all to no avail. Mainly because I’m pretty sure it doesn’t exist except in a delusional mind. I’m just not sure if it’s the one who asked me to find it, or the original person who wanted said item. It’s a continual coin toss on that one. I shall spend most of tomorrow on the phone to determine if said item might, however remotely, exist in reality. Should it then I will venture forth into the insanity to procure it with no thought to my own well-being, or sanity. Both of which are sorely in question after spending four hours in a mall, yes…A MALL!, the Sunday before Christmas. I know – I have no clue what I was thinking doing that either.

On the editing front for C&M Security 5, Dangerous Pasts, I’ve had zero motivation since Saturday to do the blasted things. Can’t get into the right mindset for it. Part of that may have been the fact I knew I’d be going *shudder* to the mall for an extended period of time. My mind may have been preparing for the onslaught of insanity, noise, and idiocy that is to be found there. Whatever the reason I haven’t got a lot completed yet. I’ll likely open them up once more tomorrow while enjoying the fact I’m home, in my jammies, while my coworkers are making their way into the office. Might be what I need to get some more done on them. Or at least figure out where the bloody hell I left off.

Usually I’m good about that kind of thing. I leave myself a little note so I can go right to that spot, or at the very least bookmark my last point so I don’t have to slog through. This time though I must have thought I’d remember. Well, hate to disillusion those that know me, I don’t have that great of a memory because I’ve got no clue. *rolls eyes*

Well, that’s it from me for tonight. I have food on the way – as there’s none in the house currently. So enjoy your evening, and I hope you’ve gotten everything you needed to get done, done. ~ Moira

A slightly chaotic rant

Dec6

Figuring I should do up another post on my website I sit here staring at my screen. I have no clue what this post will be about given the number of things tumbling around in my head currently. So I think I’ll let it just ramble out at it’s own pace and see where it might lead. Be warned, this may be long, with some point to point insanity tossed in, and may actually get down, dirty, and plain old nasty. Here we go…

First thing that comes to mind is an issue of piracy. An author friend of mine recently had a release, and as part of the lead up to it had an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) give away. Being the smart cookie that she is, my friend found a way to embed coding into each copy to make them individually unique so when she gave them to the readers who won a copy, she’d know if any of them decided to be a douche. One such person proved themselves to be just that, a douche. This person took the gift from my author friend, and promptly uploaded it to a known piracy site. Because of the encoded meta data my friend put in it was easily traceable.

It’s people like this that make us authors so wary to gift our books. Personally I always do it via a site that has the DRM in place. Not saying this is the be all, end all to stop these folks. But it’s definitely a step in the right direction. The personalized meta data encoding is another. Making each book unique, easily traceable, and so you know exactly who the perpetrator is. Sadly I’m not sure what else you can do. While the FBI has a division set for cyber crime, including intellectual property theft on the Net, what all can truly be done to stop these jerks? You shut down one site, and another pops up. You find new ways to secure books to prevent this from happening, and some jackass finds three ways around it. It really makes me, as an author, wonder why I bother to do prize giveaways. Or at least ones involving my books. It also makes me fucking mad that these people continuously get away with stealing. And that others seem to think it’s perfectly fine.

Yes books cost money, so does gas, so do things like clothing, shoes, food. But not a one of these pirates goes out to steal a cup of coffee, or a loaf of bread because that would be “wrong”. So where the fuck do they get off thinking it’s perfectly okay to steal an author’s work? We spend hours, days, months getting a book just right before we send it into our publishers. Then there is more time in refining it, getting it perfect for sale, and then the hours of pimping the books to garner those sales. This is all time that we, at least initially, are giving away free. Because it takes a damn long time to actually make any money off your books.

Prime example. My first quarter as an author I earned enough to buy exactly 8 XL cups of Tim Horton’s coffee with a few pennies left over. Yes, I am a Timmy’s addict, and damn proud of it – so shush. My second quarter I earned enough to get exactly 16 XL cups of Tim Horton’s coffee (should mention this is prior to the just recent price hike of said XL coffee cup) with a few pennies left over. Yes that was twice as much as the first quarter, but it’s still not enough to live off of. No where NEAR enough. Yet I hear all too often, and this is a paraphrase of several different people, “authors make so much money why are they bitching about one/two/three (whatever number) of their books being pirated – it’s free advertising basically”. Bull-fucking-shit. It is THEFT. Unfortunately there’s no way YET to nail these assholes to the proverbial wall. Yet.

Okay, enough on that topic. All it does is piss me the fuck off which is totally not conducive to getting my head into the proper writing space. Which I need to do soon enough. I now have three, yes THREE damn WIP’s on the burner. Don’t know where the hell they keep coming from but they do seem to pop up to drive me insane.

Second topic of irritation I want to throw out there since I’m in a venting mood – Christmas. It is not the “holiday season”, it is Christmas. In a lot of things I am PC…to a degree. But not on this. I don’t give two shits who I offend, cause it’s my fucking country, it’s Merry Christmas. Every culture has their own version, I say celebrate it accordingly and proudly. But when folks who come to our country for a better life get all pissy because our holiday offends them, too fucking bad. We were here first and it’s our holiday. You get to celebrate your holidays without all of us getting pissy at you. So, quite honestly, if you don’t like it, there’s the fucking door – don’t let it hit you in the ass on the way out.

Sadly too many things are getting all white washed out to ensure we don’t offend anyone. It’s more than beyond time to get back to the way things were. A time when kids weren’t given everything they snivelled for, but had to earn it with hard work. Or where a teacher actually had some authority over her classroom instead of getting fired for giving a student a failing grade – I had to earn my marks, why don’t the “next generation”? Come on, all this is doing is raising a bunch of people who think they don’t have to do anything to get it all. Personally I can’t wait for the reality check most of these little shits will get one day when they are all flipping burgers at McD’s or somewhere similar for barely minimum wage. How you going to afford the latest and greatest toys then?

Okay, I’d better stop before I really get myself worked into an unholy tizzy. Time to take some of my annoyance and put it into my writing. I need to get to work on those otherwise there’s not much coming out from me in the New Year. EEEK! Not good. All right. Sorry again for the rambling, spewing crap I tossed out. But I needed to get it out of my system. I hope all of you have a lovely weekend, and play safe out there in the malls, and stores. ~ Moira

Happy Sunday ya’ll

Nov30

The sun is shining on a very chilly temperature here in my city. But with coffee in hand, wrapped in a nice toasty warm sweater, and the heater up a little higher than normal I’m quite comfortable. Enough so that I can get to work on my WIP’s. At least while the characters are chatting with me anyway.

I never know how long they’ll be willing to converse with me so I can write out their story. Today though they seem relatively chatty, so I’m going to take advantage. Get what I can down on the page before they decide to meander off once more as they have been wont to do of late. Little buggers are driving me batty.

Edits are all in for book for of the C&M Security series so now I’m waiting on my cover art, and a date of release. A little impatiently I must admit since it was originally projected to come out in November. Obviously this didn’t happen as we’re now sitting on the last day of the month, but that’s fine. It took a little bit of time to get it just right, and personally I’d rather have the book “right” then rushed. Though I will admit that I really, really want to see what the cover will be for this one. Evernight’s cover designer is pretty flipping phenomenal so it’s always a fantastic surprise to find a cover mock-up sitting in your in-box waiting for you. I’m very sure this one will be no different.

Only downside to another month going down is that we’re now that much closer to Christmas. I am so not ready for the holiday. I really have to figure out a way to get all my shopping done early or I’m going to totally be screwed. Especially since I always go up to see the family for the holiday. But even that’s a little screwy this year because of a trip that is mucking up when we’ll be celebrating. Oh well, we’re all adults around here. At least until you have to wait to open your presents and then it’s like we all revert to little kids, lol!

Last bit of info to pass along as well. There is only a few more days to vote in the Evernight Publishing 2nd Annual Readers Choice Awards. The polls close on December 5, 2014 – this coming Friday. To vote all you need to do is click the image below, and it will take you directly to the voting site.

Remember, I have 2 books in 2 different categories to vote on. One is in Humor – Forever Kind of Love; and the other is in Suspense – Dangerous Lines, C&M Security 3.