Behind the Scenes

I have a home office where I write. It’s a nice room, I have a bed for my dogs in it. They curl up and sleep a lot of the time. If I’m on a zoom meeting they want to be seen on camera and beg for me to pick them up.

What most people don’t see is when I’m completely involved in a book, and that means writing or editing everything else gets ignored (not the dogs.) I let mail pile up and have to remember to pay bills. I toss stuff on my desk to look at later, and if I get a delivery that box stays in the entryway until I finish the book. Unless it’s something I need right away.

At the end of 2023 I took some time and cleaned my office. Six and half hours to clean off my desk, a side desk, the top of my file cabinet, and the file cabinet itself. I had stuff in my file cabinet from 2019. I still have no idea why. I don’t need it. So now I have it on my schedule at the end of each year to clean out the file cabinet and get rid of anything I don’t need.

How often do you clean out an office or a desk or a file cabinet or someplace where you toss stuff?

US Tax Day

Well, today is the day almost every US citizen hates. Tax day.

It also happens to be my birthday. We have a joke in my family that my dad ran down the hospital hallway after I was born yelling: “I have another deduction.”

We have to file our income taxes by midnight tonight. Yes, you can apply for an extension, but that date will still come soon enough.

It takes me about four hours to do my taxes every year, mainly because I have my writing business along with my personal taxes. It’s always a chore, but I work hard at making sure my taxes and done and filed by the end of March.

How about you? When do you file your taxes?

Things out of my control

Being an author there are just some things out of your control. The big one for me is getting readers to buy my books.

I’m not good as selling my books or myself as an author. I’m a pretty quiet person. While I have been learning at reader events to be more outgoing and chatting, it’s still difficult for me. I see other authors who are so good at getting readers to their tables and buying their books or they’re so good at social media.

This is out of my control in some ways. Yes, I’m learning to be more chatting at events, and even on social media, but I can’t make anyone buy my books. Maybe my books aren’t for you, or you don’t like the subject matter. And that’s perfectly fine. I know my books are not for everyone

Books are one of those subjective things, and I’ve learned to accept it’s out of my control.

April’s Fool Day

April 1

April’s Fool Day

It’s that day. I will admit there has been times when I’ve been fooled by an April’s Fool joke. But it got me wondering about its history.

While it’s been around for a very long time, it spread throughout Britain during the 18^th century. In Scotland, the tradition was a two-day event that sent people out on phony errands. Some would involve pranks by putting fake tails or “kick me” signs on people’s butts.

Over the years it has evolved, or has it. Some well-known companies have done pranks on April 1^st leading to confusion.

No matter what happens today, question everything.

If you like…you might like my books

Here’s something that’s hard for me to do: Talk about my books.

Yeah, I know, I’m an author, that’s my job. It is, but I feel like I’m bragging about myself which isn’t something I’m comfortable with.

Today, I’m going to talk about a couple of great authors and if you like them, I think you’ll like my books.

Lexi Blake’s Master and Mercenaries series. I didn’t discover these books until a few years ago. I’m still a reader and I’m always on the look out for something good to read. These books are great and fun. Lexi has BDSM and suspense in her books. While I don’t write suspense, I do write BDSM.

Cherise Sinclair Master of Shadowlands and other books. When I discovered Cherise Sinclair, I couldn’t figure out why I’d never seen her before. Her Master of Shadowlands series had me researching BDSM more, and understand the difference in lifestyles. She has some paranormal books, some suspense books, and several other series. I’ve been a fan for a while. Cherise influenced me to write my own BDSM club series, different from hers, but it was fun to write

I enjoy Christine Feehan’s Dark series. Something about her vampires are so yummy. I enjoy a good paranormal series, but I have no intention of writing one at this time.