As you can guess from the title, nothing major has happened this week, but there were several other things going on. For starters, we’re finally getting some nice weather here in southwest Ohio, with some sunny and some rainy days in seasonal temperatures in the 40s and 50s. I especially love the first few days when it’s warm enough to drive with my windows down! We had two or three of those last week, and more to come this week. It’s also been good weather for this:
…although the field in the photo has been kind of soggy with the snowmelt and recent rain, so not too much throwing the ball in there yet. My husband is a good, devoted dog person who will walk Isis no matter how cold–it has to be a blizzard, a torrential downpour, or a foot of snow on the ground before he skips the dog walk. I, however, am a fair weather walker, but this week has been nice enough even for me. In fact, that’s probably what I’ll do this afternoon.
My husband got Lasik surgery yesterday, and has nice, clear vision now. Well, at least in one eye–the other isn’t quite there, but he called the doctor and goes for a follow-up tomorrow. The doctor didn’t sound too concerned, so here’s hoping that’s a good sign. Not wearing glasses will be a nice little change for my husband.
I also went to a write-in yesterday with some local writing friends and my new laptop that came last week. It worked like a champ, and connected to the library’s wifi right away! I got half of a new scene written, plus enjoyed some social time with my writer friends.
My other main focus in writing is an online marketing course I’ve been going through this week. That’s been taking a lot of time, but good stuff that I think I can actually use. To that end, I’ve been making some small changes in my website. Most of those have been on a copy that just runs on my computer, but if you look at my Books page, you can see one change I’ve implemented here. My next task is to make a more mobile-friendly version of my site.
What I read this week: I finished Huntress of the Star Empire, Episode Four, by Athena Grayson. Another thrill-ride that has me looking forward to the next installment! This episode features a new cover design I did for Athena a couple of weeks ago, too. After finishing that, I read the short stories and serial segments in Smith’s Monthly #9, and started on the novel therein, which I’ll discuss next week.
ROW80 Update: I did not make as much progress here as I’d hoped, partly due to spending more time on the marketing workshop, and partly because one scene I needed to revise actually was three scenes, two of which were new ones I had yet to write. I got both done, but along with those, only revised two chapters, in addition to one more new scene I did know I needed. So this week, I have one more new scene to write, and would like to get the rest of the revisions done for two more chapters. I also want to get through one more segment of the marketing workshop. I have a couple of things going on later this week, so that may be pushing it–we’ll see!
What about you–are you getting any nice weather in your part of the world? Any recent changes in your life, big or small? How are you doing on whatever goals you might be working toward, whether writing or not? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!
Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.
So I came home and ordered a fun little 2-in-1, a laptop that can fold back on itself and function as a tablet. It weighs the same as the netbook, and cost a bit more (but still very reasonable), but wow is it faster! And so much fun to use both with the keyboard, and as a tablet at other times. I now know why I hardly ever used the netbook–it was too slow and un-functional. This computer is useful for when I’m sitting on the couch and want to look something up, or just surf the net. Even better, this particular computer was on sale at the time, and came with a free 7″ tablet. Can’t beat that!
What I read this week: I finished Huntress of the Star Empire, Episode Three. Wow, what a ride this story is turning out to be! And it works perfectly as a serial–each episode concludes its own action, but ends with a cliffhanger or big question that definitely makes you want the next one ASAP. I guess it doesn’t annoy me because I expect it–and that’s a big part of being an author: fulfilling reader expectations. This one does it all: a fascinating world, with complex characters that we learn a bit more about with each episode. If you like science fiction with some romance mixed in, 
The Liebster Award circulates around the blogosphere every year around this time, and this year, it came to me twice! It’s a fun little exercise where the award “recipient” answers a few fun questions, then passes on the award to others. Fun fact: “Liebster” is German for “dearest” or “sweetest.” (I felt obligated to look that up, since my daughter is a German major in college.) There are also a few German characters in my WIP. They don’t ever use that word. 🙂
I was given the Liebster Award by 
What I read this week: 
What I read this week: 
What I read this week: I saw this on a blog, or recommendation on Amazon–I can’t remember where, exactly, but it looked interesting and a quick read, so I bought it. Write Every Day by Cathy Yardley is a short craft book full of good productivity tips. As I expected, a lot of the content covered the same things as Dean Wesley Smith’s Productivity workshop covered, but in less depth. But all good reinforcement. One thing different about this book that I loved was that it recognized the need to “transition” between day job or mommy tasks and writing, and also the fact that not all of us are wired to take advantage of every 10-15 minutes spent waiting in line at the grocery store, to pick up the kids, etc. to get a bit of writing in. And best of all, she recognizes one life component I’ve come to learn is as much, if not more, important than time: our personal energy levels. And this book discusses how to deal with those, and recognizes the fact that we can’t always write when we’re at our best creative-energy times, because duh, that’s when some of us have to go to work! So if you’re a writer and you’d like some quick, encouraging tips on increasing your productivity that won’t make you feel like a slacker, get this book!
What I read this week: Smith’s Monthly #8, which included the novel Life of a Dream. A really enjoyable issue, especially with the way the same character from the first short story ended up being one of the main characters in the novel, which took place some 15-20 years later. Amazing how a story that takes place in a nursing home can end up so positive and uplifting, and also very entertaining! Parts of the novel also took place there as well, and the same is definitely true for it. What’s interesting is reading it after reading about 
The book was 
