June 30, 2021 – – the last day of the month

This is it! My cover reveal for Dragons' Inferno. I am so excited that my cover artist, Steven Novak, did such a good job for me. The e-book is up and ready for pre-order, and will be released on Friday, July 2. Cool day. I had hoped to release it on July 1, but given what's been going on in my life recently, I think July 2 as a miracle. On the other hand, it's also special day. It's mine and my husband's anniversary! We may be getting older, but we haven't lost our commitment to get old together.

                                         

The paperback version is still waiting for the full cover, but it's on its way and after I get it, it shouldn't take more than a few days to get it up, approved, and ready for sale. I will be taking copies with me wherever I go, along with copies of the revised Dragon Unchained, and as soon as the doctor says I can handle it, I will be selling them at the Farmers Market at the harbor in Crescent City, CA. Hop on over and take a look! 

Check out the tabs above. You'll get more information, plus the links to the books there.

Happy reading. 

Susan

 June 2020

I am a strong believer that we are sometimes put through tests that are really crazy but which have amazing results at the end. I had surgery the end of May and was pretty darn sure I'd never be able to write again. It involved my right wrist, and I'm right handed. I did everything I could to finish both Dragon Unchained's second version and Dragons' Inferno at the same time. I didn't make it before the surgery took place, but I was right back at the keyboard a couple of days afterwards. The downside was having to type one-handed and to do everything on the computer without using my right hand at all. I have to keep my thumb completely immobilized for the surgery t work.

The diagnosis? Degenerative osteoarthritis, which destroyed all the cartilage between my thumb and my wrist bone. The solution? The surgeon removed the trapezoid bone, constructed a "hammock" which pretty much wired the end of my thumb to my index finger, and time is supposed to take care of filling in the gap with lots of scar tissue. A lot of fun. I've desperately needed my husband's help, and my dad was right there alongside him whenever needed.

I am now almost a month post surgery, and have been moved out of the original splint and into a brace. I'm not sure which is the worst torture, but they are pretty much awful. On the other hand, it's a lot of support and protection. If nothing else, it keeps me from doing something clumsy, which I am very inclined to do, and destroying the thumb by doing something awful to it. I am also doing occupational therapy on both hands, because not only do I have to have the same surgery done on my left hand someday, but for some reason the muscles in my left hand, especially the thumb, have begun to atrophy. I have to rebuild those muscles if I want hope for a good outcome with the second surgery.

I am ever so grateful that my husband took over the garden for me, listened when I told him how important it was for me to get a new computer – – especially before the old one died, which it was probably within weeks of doing – – and understood when I told him he was going to have to take over all the cooking, laundry, basic housework, errands, and shopping. Oh, wait. I think that was called woman's work once upon a time. Yeah, my man's been doing that pretty darn well for a while. We've had a few disagreements when he interprets things differently than I do, but hey folks, we all have to remember that there is more than one way to skin a cat or cook an egg. As much as I would like to be my normal anal retentive self, it was so wonderful to just back off, go back to bed, read/right, and watch Netflix. We don't get permission for that very often in life, and although the downside was the pain, struggling to get a little sleep, and finding ways to address the personal needs no one else can do for me as, it was nice to have someone have my back.

Here's some  of my thriving garden, and me with both a splint and later with the brace. 

My next entry will be my cover reveal for Dragons' Inferno. 

I am so excited! My cover artist does a great job, and I'm so thrilled to finally get cover and manuscript connected.

 May 2020

Isn’t it great when plans you make or things you’ve have on both back and front burners forever just get a life of their own and suddenly happen?

That's where I am right now. If you’ve followed any of my posts here, you know I love to garden. I've struggled for several years now, unfortunately, with my wrists. I can’t do heavy gardening anymore, and I've had to stop crocheting and knitting, which isn't fair. I was halfway through a beautiful cable sweater when I had to set the needles aside. I'm hoping that's one of those things I'll be able to pick back up again once I've healed.

I finally saw and was evaluated by my specialist and am going to have surgery next month. Not looking forward to it, but in the long run I know it will give me a better future. And I will enjoy writing a whole lot more, too! Yahoo! (Until then, it will be hunt and peck one-handed.)

Now this all means that I've been working really hard to catch up on several things. The garden of course, and I have pictures at the bottom of where we began this spring and where we are today. My weight loss plan for improved health: I’ve now lost 60 lbs! 

I'm also going to be working officially with FamilySearch, a program for genealogy that is unmatched anywhere else in the world and it's FREE! Just go look it up. FamilySearch.org. It's fun. Work, but fun.

And this post has the cover reveal for the second edition of Dragon Unchained! 

I hope you love it as much as I do.

Oh, by the way, you have to click on the Fantasy Tab to find it. Send me a note if you have any comments. 

 

Also, stay tuned for the cover reveal for the sequel, Dragons’ Inferno. That will happen in a few weeks. 

My flowers this year:

And in the beginning: small plants

And then they started to grow.

Now they are huge and gorgeous!

Mom left me lots of pots. I finally used them!

A friend gave me a magazine; I learned to make my own planter.

What a gorgeous Iris!

My Tropicana Rose. Huge! Beautiful.

The Immortality Iris buds just keep opening.

This morning's newest flower arrangement. The "brown" flower is an Iris, too. 

April 2020

 

Boy, have we had a lot going on! How about you? People are getting back to work, kids are going back to school—although the school year is almost over. Spring in full swing, and summer is on the horizon. 

My weight loss journey has been phenomenal, and my husband decided to embark on his own weight loss plan. For both of us, on two different diets (if that's what you want to call them), it's more about living healthier, happier, and more productive lives. 

Richard is using the Optivia plan; I have a different program. I have fibromyalgia and belong to a Facebook group that came out of Dr. R. Paul Saint Amand’s fibromyalgia treatment program in Marina del Rey, California. I have hypoglycemia, and although fibromyalgia doesn't have a special diet, people with either hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia (otherwise known as diabetes) and who are overweight do you need a special diet. The group has helped me learn how to "work it" and be successful at it.

For me to feel the best I can under the circumstances I must control my carb intake very tightly. I cannot eat sugar of any kind, which includes honey, molasses, any kind of syrups, and sugar by any other name like glucose, maltodextrin, dextrin, lactose, or fructose. Natural sugars are packed into all of the fruits and vegetables we eat, but the lower glycemic index ones are acceptable for me. I just can't have the processed variety. 

It's a challenge. That means I have to read a lot of labels and cook pretty much everything from scratch. It’s paying off. Richard just started on his plan, and I’m excited to see how it works for him. For me? I’ve lost 50 pounds! It’s been quite a benchmark, and I’m not done yet. Even better, it has made me feel so much better to eat the way I do. 

As for other exciting events? 

Well, our son-in-law got a new puppy. He’s a hound dog, and while I am not a fan of dogs that bay, they are a beautiful dog breed. His name is Emmet. Isn’t he adorable? And the grandson just loves this pooch. Can you tell?

 

Isn't the cute redhead even cuter than the adorable puppy. But the puppy is cute!

Introducing Emmet, the newest member of the family. For now the eyes are blue!

 

Greatest thing of all this month is that I’m back to writing! I have the cover for my second book done in the Dragon Unchained Trilogy, Dragons’ Inferno. It’s so beautiful that I asked my cover artist to redo the cover for Dragon Unchained so that they match. He did a great job. I’ll do a cover reveal with my next entry.

Unchained also needed a facelift. Readers found a few mistakes, and I fixed them, so the new book isn’t an update, it’s a new book, as required by the national rules and regulations of publishing. Not that many changes, so if you’ve bought Unchained, don’t buy a new one; but if you didn’t get it when it first came out, then maybe the cover will tempt you. 

Both books will ready to go by summer.