Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Book 2 is Coming in October

Book 2 in the Bryant Station Curves series is taking a little longer than I had originally anticipated.

I have a day job that threw me for a loop, by adding a couple more responsibilities to my already full list.Unfortunately, the new responsibilities sucked away a chunk of my free time, but I'm slowly recovering that time.

Book 2 is Jason's story. If you remember, Jason is David's older brother, and was hooked up with the not so nice Tina Anderson.

The story will be out in October.

And yes, I have an idea for book 3. LOL :)


Sunday, September 15, 2013

Boot Shopping

I love boots!

The fall catalogues have me drooling (not good for my keyboard).

I want them all!!

As much as I love boots, I hate shopping for them. It's a nightmare. Hours later, the only thing I have to show for my time is an attitude and a whole lot of frustration.

My problem is with my feet and calves. Being plus size, I have large calves, so that drops a lot of boots off my list. My boot shopping problem is compounded by the fact I wear a women's size 6 wide. A lot of manufacturers start with a size 7, which is way too big for me.

About two months ago, I told my DH I wanted a new pair of cowboy boots and a belt to control the rolling/sliding waistband problem my jeans have--that's a whole different story. Living in Texas, he took me to a couple of different local western wear stores. The first couple of stores didn't have anything in my size, but said they could order a pair for me. I declined, because I've learned I have to try the things on, otherwise I'm paying return postage to send them back. At one of the stores, the cute sales girl pretty much blew me off and went back to her co-worker to talk. The last store my DH took me too was a western store that had everything from trailers, to tack and saddles, to feed, to everything you could possibly want to wear to work on a farm or got to a rodeo (whether you were participating or just a spectator).

Hey, I said I live in Texas! LOL

Anyway, I started looking through the women's boots, but found nothing that would fit. Even though this was not the first time I've looked for boots, I was disappointed, though not surprised.

I had already decided to give up when a sales lady came up. We talked, and I told her what I was looking for and the problem I was having. She told me, to my surprise, my problem was fairly common, and she had a solution.

She took me to the kids' boot section.

I would never have thought of looking in the kids' boot section. I tried on different pairs, and I found that depending on the style and brand, I can wear a 4 to 5 in kid sizes.

The boots made for kids are replicas of the ones they make for adults, so I had a choice of styles and colors. The only difference is kid sizes are a little cheaper than adult ones and they may be a little shorter than adult boots (but not much).

I found a pair I really liked, but the left boot was too tight across the ball of my foot. My left foot is slightly wider than my right.

The sales lady smiled and said she could fix that too. She left and came back with a spray bottle filled with a mixture of water and rubbing alcohol. She sprayed the top of the boot while I was wearing it, and the leather almost instantly loosened.

Of all the times I've shopped for boots, this is the first sales lady who ever truly helped me and left me with some good tips. I definitely will go back to this store.

Oh, by the way, I've got a pair of leather, knee high boots that are a little tight around the top. The water-rubbing alcohol mixture worked wonders. I even tried the mixture on a pair of leather sneakers that wouldn't loosen up because it hurt to wear them.
Ariat (brand), size 5

Just a word of caution--always test the water-rubbing alcohol mixture on a small section of the leather before you spray it everywhere. You don't want to ruin you leather boots.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

PROCRASTINATION Kills Writers!!!

"But I am working!" I tell myself as I sit in front of the computer screen.

The sad part of the whole scene is that I'm not even sure I believe myself.

Yeah, I'm sitting in front of the computer, and I did have the word processing program open (it was long ago minimized), but now the Internet is open. That's right, I've been surfing for the last hour.

Crap! 
It's really been three hours!
I haven't even written one word.


Does this sound familiar? Maybe a little too familiar, right?

It's not writer's block causing the problem. I've got too  many ideas for that--well, maybe that is a problem, but it will have to wait until another day.

 So what's my problem?

PROCRASTINATION!!!

It's such an ugly word, but it's an ugly fact.
I waste a lot of my writing time.
But why do I, or anyone else for that matter, procrastinate?

Here are some of the reasons people, including myself, procrastinate.

The job's too difficult and there are too many things that are more fun.
This is usually the point where many of us even start doing chores we hate because they are easier to do than writing the scene we've been stuck on for the past two days.

I succeeded the first time, but I'm afraid I'll fail miserably this time.
Fear of failure is a huge issue. We accomplished writing the first book, now we have to write the next book. Questions run through our brains.
  • Is my writing good enough? 
  • Can I write another book? 
  • What if everyone hates the next book?
  • What was I thinking? I can't write! I'm a fake and everyone is going to find out.
 The questions can go on and on, until they begin crippling us.

I can finish the book in one month, get it edited and published--a very unrealistic goal.
This "goal" does nothing but set us up for failure. 

I have to keep my name in the public's eyes, that's why I'm constantly checking  all the social media sites I belong.
Social media eats a lot of computer time. Going to check the email, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever site it is, can cost you a couple of hours or more.

Procrastination, like I said earlier, is a dirty word, but the effect it has on us is far reaching. One way we can combat it, is to know what our triggers are and figure out ways to prevent the triggers from happening.

So now it is up to you. Why do you procrastinate?