April Showers Bring Wha???

Hi everyone! It’s been a while since my last update. I hope everyone is well, and staying safe.

April was an insane month for me. I have been making a ton of promo posters, as you saw in the last blog entry by yours truly, and I’ve been going nuts fast drafting the Top Secret project. Dana’s story was put on hold for the time being, so I could get the Top Secret one finished.

Writing Update

I started the Top Secret manuscript itself in January but really didn’t get into the story until April. I parked my butt at the computer and just ran with it. The manuscript was about 7K to 8K when I started (can’t remember exactly WHERE I started writing in the manuscript this month)
I started the fast drafting on April 8^th. I typed “THE END” in the manuscript on April 27^th.

When I finished it, it was over 44K. That’s over 37K in 20 days, and I was writing only two days a week on average. My highest word count in one day was on April 9, and it was 7850 words. Highest week was April 11 to 17^th, at 14,925 words. I blew through it!

I’m still not allowed discussing the Top Secret Project yet, but I can give a few tiny hints that will make you wonder what kind of stuff I got into this time:

1. I have three coconspirators. Who they are will remain top secret unless I have permission to open the yap.
2. The idea is one given to the rest of us by one of the coconspirators. Her idea, we wrote our own take on it.
3. It's in a genre I've never tried before....It's a paranormal romance with horror elements. (It's been interesting!)
4. Minimum word count was 30,000 words. Mine was about 44K when it went into stasis last night.
5. I wrote a synopsis for it, and the blurb is done - as in edited and ready for Nicki's approval.
6. I will be subbing it sometimes in late May. It's due May 31st, I THINK.

That's it. I'm not allowed saying anything else. *zips lips!*

I’m getting ideas on what we should be using for promos for this book as well as the other authors’ books (same background, etc) and a few other things. Thank heavens for subscriptions to stock photo sites… Talk about lifesavers (I don’t use the free sites, only sites you pay for so I know it’s safe to use in my promos, etc.)

I’m taking the rest of the week off from writing, and I’ll be bringing the Top Secret story out of stasis probably on Tuesday. We’re back to online learning in Nova Scotia, but I can edit and do my graphics designs while I’m supervising my son and his schoolwork. I’m so zonked out from fast drafting this last one that I need the break. I’m doing some promos for my pal Cameron, who is hosting the Great Canadian Romance Hunt sometime in June. I’m a participating author, and I’ll be doing a live read with a bit of Nova Scotian trivia tossed in. I’ll share the dates and links when I get them.

I won’t be back into Feathered Tartan 3 for a bit. Not until after this one has landed in Nicki’s capable hands.

Real Life!

I had an eye exam last week, to be sure my eyes are okay, and I did need an updated prescription for glasses. Everything is fine. My eyes are probably the heathiest part of me! My optometrist is pleased, and so am I. I ordered my new glasses from an online store, and they are now on the way here. Hopefully they arrive soon. My favorite frameless purple ones decided to have an arm let go yesterday, so I’m back to using my bifocal ones without nose pads until the new ones arrive. Hopefully soon! I’ll share pics of the new purple glasses on Twitter when they get here, the frames are different than the purple ones I have now. My suns and bifocals have the same frames as the old ones – the $10 special from Z-Canada.

Other than that, not much has changed. Things are just as crazy here as they were three weeks ago.

Nova Scotia

Remembers

Original design ©2021 Veridian Rose Designs

Last week was the one year anniversary of the Portapique shooting. Although the wound still oozes and we are still in mourning, all of us Nova Scotians took a moment to remember and reflect on how fast the last year went. It’s not easy thinking about that monster who lived among us, and took 23 innocent lives (including an unborn baby), for no reason that we can find right now. There is an inquiry happening but it’s not guaranteed we will get answers.

I just want to remind my fellow Scotians that we are tough, and we are stronger together. #NovaScotiaStrong

Nova Scotia in Lockdown

*REMINDER: NO debating on my areas. If you disagree with me on COVID procedures and vaccinations, please stop here.*

Nova Scotia is in another lockdown, due to spikes in our cases of COVID-19. As of April 29, 2021, we have 548 active cases in Nova Scotia, with 15 active cases in the Western Zone, aka the western half of the mainland, where I reside. I think we have a couple of people in Lunenburg County who are positive, but they are isolating as required by provincial mandates. Pretty much all non-essential services are closed – hair salons, the public pools, the library, etc. – and schools have moved to online learning. Son is rather miffed that he still has to follow his daily school schedule, and not do things when he felt like it last year. High school is much different than junior high. Either he does his work or he loses all privileges, including his computer time on my computer. Simple as that!

We did have someone in the community test positive, so Son and I got tested. That was an “experience”. A swab up the nose and a scraping. Ouch. It hurt like hell. It sent my trigeminal neuralgia into a tizzy and my face burned for days afterwards. We were both negative, which is a relief! We are hoping to get our vaccines soon, which will be another relief. Even then, we plan to keep wearing our masks – even though wearing one makes my trigeminal neuralgia go insane – and following protocols until Premier Rankin and Dr. Strang say it’s okay to forgo things.

I hate to say it, but I have a bad feeling schools will be online until September again. Son isn’t happy, and honestly I do not blame him.

Oh well. I can always write when Son is deep into his schoolwork, or on weekends this time. I’ll figure it out. I always do.

Stay safe, everyone! I’ll drop another update when I have time, and if anything happens.

I’m leaving you with one of my favorite songs of all time… “Tom Sawyer” by RUSH. (Love the bassline in this one!)