9/8, 9/9 and 9/10/17 Ireland, Days 1 and 2 of Celtic Adventure

So I need to change the title of this blog because my life IS an adventure. I'm sitting in the lobby of the Sheldon Park Hotel in Dublin, Ireland as happy as one person can be. I mean as happy as an old, overweight, arthritic, single, no-money person can be.

I am indeed happy. I tried to blog for the past few days, but I can't do it with the Blogger app on my iPad. So here I am with my laptop, typing away. I knew there was a reason to lug this Mac Air along with me.

My plane ride itself was pretty non-eventful, except for the 8 hour layover in Chicago. However, even that was fun because I met the O'Malley family, and had a beer with them. Had an Irish beer I like called Smithwick's. (Pronounced Smitticks, so make sure you say it right so you don't get laughed at. However, even when you're laughed at it's fun, because the Irish have such a great laugh. I learned how to say it when I was here several times in 2004 on business, but sure got laughed at until I got the knack.

By the way, a handsome young man just stopped to talk with me and I wanted to take him home. No, not for that. Although the idea does bring fancies to my mind. :) Nope, because I would love to hear him talk all the time. What a delightful young man.

Anyway, back to the narrative. I watched movies the whole time on the 6 hour plane ride, and enjoyed it. Didn't sleep a wink. So if you follow me on FB, you know I didn't sleep the night before either. I was a zombie...

But then I saw my friend Nancie at the airport and immediately felt better. Nan is such a tonic for me and so much fun. We are quite different in many ways, but are similar in just as many. Because we're both flexible and pretty upbeat, we are great traveling companions.

We took the AirLink bus from the Airport to Centre City of Dublin, basically downtown, and then needed to take the tram from there to our hotel. We were running on empty by that time and when we passed a cab on the way to the tram stop, we thought "what the heck" and got in the cab. Colm was our driver and it was easily the best cab ride ever. By the way, Colm is the Irish spelling and Collum is the English, and don't you dare mix them up.

Colm was so funny and had us laughing for the entire trip. He taught us a few Irish expressions and some of them included the F word, which is so common here and not frowned up as much as in the States.

Our hotel is old and out of the way, and is just perfect. However there are some cultural differences, that's for sure. For example, the Irish Breakfast is huge and if we add it to our room it's only 12.99 Euros but if we don't, it's 14.99. Here's a pic:

Nan's Full Irish Breakfast in the foreground and my Veg Full Irish across the table. YUM!

Here's my view in the lobby right now, Ladies and Gents. 

We didn't do anything yesterday except a short nap and a short walk. We walked from the hotel to the tram stop down the street, so we'd know where it was. Today we're going to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and I am thrilled. We'll take the tram downtown and then shop, walk, and lunch prior to going to the viewing. Our appointment is at 3 PM, which is 9 AM Central Time in the US. 

We just ate in the hotel for our dinner. Had some really good food, and I had a Smithwick's and Nan had Chardonnay. 

The huge news is that we went to bed around 9 or 10 PM and slept all night. When we awoke at 7 this morning, it was because Nan had forgotten to turn off her alarm. I was across the room with earplugs in and I heard it. She slept right through it. Really funny. But now we both feel back to normal already, so that's a definite plus. Yesterday we were zombies and today we're back to being adorable old ladies.

And the tub/shower has to be experience to really understand how funny it is. One thing I absolutely love about other countries is how the facilities work in the bathrooms. The toilet flushes in a really "odd" way to us Americans. I love it though. Secondly the tub is up high and so hard to get in and out of. Nan is even shorter than I am, and when she went in to take a bath I yelled, "Good luck, Shorty," and she was in stitches over it. I know it will appear in her reporting as well. :) The shower knobs are separate from the tub ones and when I showered it took a long time for me to figure it out. I explained it all to Nancie, but apparently she couldn't make it work and ended up bathing instead. Don't know why, but I feel like a mechanical genius. :) By the way, I'll probably be reporting on toilets and tubs for every new place we stay. I find it fascinating.

(My two favorite bathroom stories are from Sweden and Japan. In Malmo, Sweden at a public toilet located outside, you stand with your feet on either side of a huge rush of running water going downhill. It was so cool. And unbelievably clean. In Japan, there are many "squat toilets." Experienced those in Haiti too. Anyway, I'd had only one beer, but trying to use a squat toilet afterwards was a real comedy of errors. Can't describe it in detail, but believe me it was really funny.)

Our hotel room itself is small but nice. They upgraded us because we had to wait. So instead of two twin beds we have one twin and one standard. That made us laugh too. Nancie always gives me the bigger bed when this happens. I say it's because my butt is bigger. She says it's because she doesn't need space because she doesn't move in bed. :) The real reason is because she's nice.

Another difference, which is pretty cool, is that the electricity doesn't work unless you put your room key into a slot in the room. It's a great reason, because it saves electricity. It's just hard for us Yanks to get used to. I was in the bathroom this morning and Nancie was going to go downstairs to the Breakfast Room to get our table. When you take the key out, the electricity stays on for one minute, so she didn't even think that I'd be in the bathroom in total darkness. Well, I was, and it was a different experience. Another one for the blog, or the book, or both. Ultimately I got out, found my key, and put it in the slot, and all was well. I finished my ablutions and we had another glorious Full Irish Breakfast.

Now it's quiet time. Nan is writing in the room. I'm writing in the lobby. It's 10:42 AM as I write this, and at noon we'll take the tram downtown for a late lunch and lots of exploring. Can't wait to report on the Book of Kells, check it out with Google. That's your homework assignment.

The handsome young man just came back. God, I love traveling.

2/6/17 Hooray!

Well, the great news is that the back surgery was a success and I'm now able to sit up long enough to write—both the blog and the book. The bad news is that I didn't finish Who Dies Next? before the surgery, but I'm very close now. Sam is confronting the killer (as she tends to do) and so who knows what will happen to her before the end of the book. Sure hope George is close by to help her out. Or Clancy. Or preferably both.

I'm planning a trip to Ireland and Scotland in September. My 70th birthday is in August and this is my big gift to myself. To prepare, I've been reading my blog from My European Adventure from 2004. I went to several countries while living in the UK in from early to mid-2004 and it's fun reading about my experiences. It's also fun to try to replicate some of the fun, while also planning for new adventures.

12/6/16 Calling all my readers!

It's been two months since I've written in this blog. I could offer excuse after excuse, but I won't. Instead I'll give you just one: I'm having trouble sitting for any length of time. After chronic pain for more than eight years, I'm having back surgery on January 3. Then I won't be able to sit for a short while, but hopefully I'll be back to my old self in 2-5 months. (Whether that's good or bad, I'll leave for you to decide.)

Although a little nervous about the process, I am excited to get this surgery done. I bounced back quickly from both knee replacements, and expect no less from this surgery.

My goal is to finish the first draft of Who Dies Next? by the end of the year, because I will be able to edit from a reclining position, although I can't really write like that.

Enough of being a "downer." Now for the good stuff.

• The Work in Progress is going well, and I'm feeling good about it. 
• The last few book signings have been successful and I'm beyond pleased.
• The mystery anthology—Mostly Murder: Till Death is doing well and getting really good reviews. My short story, Nun of Your Business, is being mentioned as one that is enjoyable. 
• I've got some marketing ideas that I picked up at a recent Writers' Conference. Hopeful about the ability to get the word out more successfully about my books.
• Looking forward to starting another series about the nun in Nun of Your Business. It will be a cozy mystery series, just like Sam Darling's mysteries but will take place in a different city.

If it weren't for you loyal readers I wouldn't be so motivated to finish this book before my surgery. So thank you. And I'm confident I'll find my personal motivation again early next year—to write for the pure joy of writing.

10/9 Progress!

I'm on Chapter 12 of Who Dies Next? This book is pretty much writing itself, although I'll still be happy to collect the royalties. :)

This is when writing is really fun for me—when I look forward to writing every day. It's a job that I love to do.

The part I don't love is taking care of all the details that come along with being an indie author. That's why I'm so happy that I have Patrice Fitzgerald of eFitzgerald Publishing to take care of those details. It frees me to do exactly what I want to do—write! Plus she really knows what she's doing.

Now, here's hoping I won't get "stuck" and that this book will continue to be a ton of fun to work on. I plan to finish it during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November, so that it can get published as soon as possible. Some of my readers are already asking for the next one. I sure wish I could write full time, and then crank out books more frequently. But since I have two other part-time jobs I plan to publish two books a year, and I hope that's going to be sufficient to keep readers engaged.

Thanks a million for your support!

10/3/16 Swimmingly, that's how things are going

Working on book #7 in the Sam Darling mystery series. Who Dies Next? is making me smile. (Hmm, smiling when talking about murder is weird, I'm sure.) It has some fun new characters in it, some of whom may return later. It starts with something I don't like at all, but I couldn't stop it from happening. My characters definitely have minds of their own, and sometimes it makes me mad. Other times I love it because they sort of write the book. They just use my fingers on the keyboard.

There are some neat surprises in the story, I think. Some surprises for Sam, George, and Clancy. I hope you'll like the story as much as I do.

I've had two recent book signings, one at Quincy University and another at Panera. In both cases, I shared the table with Author Tracey Broemmer. Check her out on FB or at broemmerbooks.com. She writes women's fiction.

There are two more book signings lined up. One in early November at the ShowMeWriters Master Class at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO and the other around Christmas at the Historical Society of Quincy, IL and Adams County at the Quincy Mall. I'm sure looking forward to both of them.

For now, it's back to the work in progress. I'm anxious to find out who, what, when, where, and why!

9/5 Labor Day indeed

Today is indeed Labor Day. I have so much to do and feel like my time is limited. Am going on vacation on Wednesday and will be gone for 10 days. I hope to have some really good writing time in there, but am not sure how it will go.

But, before I go, here are my writing assignments:

1. Proof Triple Trouble Too, the second compilation of Sam's mysteries. This one contains books 4 through 6. For those who've asked, we still don't have Who's the Rogue? in paperback yet, but I'm assured it's on its way.

2. Finish reading a friend's play to give him feedback.

3. Write some more case studies for my class at QU. This class has been harder to organize for the students because the case study book is out of print. Yikes. But the students are handling the chaos well.

4. And finally, I sincerely hope I can actually write more on Who Dies Next? It's #7 in the series. I'm particularly having fun because three of my sibs inspired three of the characters in this book and their interactions with each other make me laugh each time I start writing.

While I'm gone, I need to finish reading a friend's book and write a review for Amazon.

But think on this...can you picture me sitting on the balcony of my cruise ship, writing a book? Yeah, neither can I.

8/22 Took a day off

Took a day off from writing today because I had some appointments this morning (ugh). Then I met with my trainer. After getting beaten up, I came home and had an easy day. But I'm ready to write tomorrow. I'm at a point in the story where things are happening and I'm having a ton of fun being the orchestrator of it.

I've had a few other ideas to add to the story, and that makes it even more fun. Oops, will take a break from this to write those down. I'm forgetful. Okay, I'm back. That was quick, wasn't it?

This book is a little bit different. It still has the same cast of regulars, but it starts with something sad. Then there are some very happy and surprising things that happen. And ultimately, happiness will prevail, I'm sure, because at the root of it all, the author is an optimist.

8/17 Being good...yes, I am

Reached 9400 words today, and I'm content. I could still be writing if I didn't have other jobs. I know I said this yesterday, but it bore repeating. :)

I'm excited about Who Dies Next? because it deals with people confusing good and evil, or evil disguised as good.

Flies are buzzing around me this morning on the patio. I did take a shower this morning, and Gus is clean, so it must be the food crumbs. Plus, since this is a restaurant, they can't use bug spray or anything like that.

Time to move on to my QU job. I only have to metaphorically move though, because the work is on the same computer. Yeah, life is good.

8/16 It's moving along

Up to 8500 words in Who Dies Next? If I didn't have other jobs besides writing I would keep going today. The plot seems to be flowing, and I'm enjoying the ride.

It's only Chapter 6 and I already know who one of the villains is. Yeah, I think there might be two. Or maybe more. They'll let me know as I write.

I so enjoy finding out about who is who as my fingers fly across the keyboard. One of my main flaws is that I'm always going back to fix typos. Common writing wisdom is not to edit as you write the first draft. My problem is that I'm worried I'll forget what the word was really supposed to be. So this slows me down. However, the process seems to be working for me.

This is book 7, but actually 9 when you count the two compilations. Triple Trouble Too is in process and it contains books 4 through 6: Will You Marry Me?; Where Is Henderson?; and Who's the Rogue? It's quite an exciting endeavor to see three of my books in one volume. Plus it will be a bargain!

Okay, off to work on one of my other jobs—teaching at Quincy University. Classes start on Monday and I have a lot of preparing to do. More later.

8/11 Writing woes...

Why in the world do I read my reviews? I saw a fairly negative one recently and it brought me down. Now this was one negative one in the midst of many five-star reviews. I wonder why that one almost negates all the really good ones.

It's because I'm human I guess. I take all my reviews seriously, both good and bad. And sometimes the negative ones have something to teach me. I've actually made changes in the next book based upon something I agreed with in a few-star review.

However, I think some are just mean, and I do my best to ignore them. Or to let them roll off of me without injury.  It's a skill I'm trying to improve on. :)

In the meantime, I do want to encourage readers to keep reviewing, no matter what you have to say. Reviews are like life blood to an independent writer. We thrive on them. The more reviews, the more attention we get from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other sites.

So I'll keep writing, and you keep reviewing. Please.

8/8 Writing is sometimes fun

The last few days I didn't write since I was going over the proof of the paperback of Who's the Rogue? Remember, that's part of the writing profession that doesn't produce new words, but is a necessary evil. Not evil exactly, but certainly not as fun as writing a new story. Anyway, that's now done and sent to my publisher.

Today I got to write, and produced a little more than a thousand words. Who Dies Next? (hereafter known as WDN?) now stands at 6,685 words. And I'll do more than a thousand tomorrow. I definitely want to get in the writing groove, so that it's an automatic thing to sit down each morning and write.

It's not that I don't enjoy writing, I really do. It's just that other things get in my way. Today Gus and I are volunteering at an Alzheimer's Unit and then I meet with my trainer. If I waited until after that to write, my brain would be mush already. So I do it in the morning. From 8 to about 10:30 (Central Time) I do my marketing, FaceBook, Twitter, blog, and writing. It works perfectly for me.

Then I have my other part-time jobs to do. Right now, I'm preparing for the university classes to start. I have a lot of work to do to make that happen. I only teach one class at a time, so it's fun and not a pain.

My third part-time job, as a program counselor for an international au pair agency, is something I can't schedule. I do that work as I get referrals, and it's usually fest or famine. :)

8/5 I promise I'm writing and other stuff.

I'm more than 5,000 words into book 7. It should be more. However, I'm realizing that being an author is a lot more than just writing. Today I'm looking at a proof of the paperback of Book 6, Who's the Rogue? That has to count for something, right?

Despite that disclaimer I'm still going to get to 6,000 words today. Yes, I am. Naysayers and nonbelievers can just wait and see.

Off to proof...

8/3 The aftermath of my birthday

My confession. Yesterday, on my 69th birthday, I didn't write a word. Well, except to say "thank you" to my friends on FaceBook for their good wishes.  So now it's time for me to get back to work.

Except—I woke up this morning and realized my driver's license expired yesterday. Yikes.

8/1 A little more

I took off from writing yesterday (Sunday), so it's not going as fast as I'd like. However, I will get to 5,000 per week because Who Dies Next? seems to be flowing pretty well.

I'm at 3,673 today. So a few hundred short of the goal. I'll catch up in two days. Tomorrow is my birthday so I may not write. I don't like to write when I'm drunk. (Just kidding. I love it.) I probably won't really drink tomorrow, but will enjoy being totally lazy. My gift to me.

Tomorrow is my Online Birthday Bash. If you didn't get an invitation and you want one, just let me know. Two of my friends are showing LipSense (cosmetics) and LuLaRoe (clothing). I love both products a lot.

Just finished writing this morning, and am getting ready to meet with my trainer. It's a new experience for me and I'm hurting. :) However, I'm hopeful I will start to see results in a week or so.

7/30 Writing update

Who Dies Next? (Sam Darling mystery #7) is off and running. I have more than 2,000 words written, plus I've completed the synopsis as well. I've changed my commitment to be, "I'll write at least 1,000 words per day five days per week." I realized that I'm only setting myself up if I promise to do this every single day. So that's it.

So far, so good.

And on my Wordpress blog, the Incredible Shrinking Shrinks, I've committed to see my trainer once or twice a week and then exercising in some form every day. Right now I'm doing the exercises he taught me and asked me to do. They take about a half hour to do, once a day. I'm also to do the stretches an additional time every day. Not so good on that one. But I am doing the exercises. Just need to add the extra set of stretches.

7/27/16 A writing commitment

Okay, here it is. I'm finding it hard to make time to write. I'm distracted by family fun, swimming, FaceBook, politics, dog sitting, my own pets, omigod the list can go on and on. So I'm going to make a public commitment, like a writer friend did on FB.

I want to have the first draft of this book completed in three months (at the latest). Then it will go to my beta readers. After they quickly read it and give me advice, I'll make changes (or not) and then the manuscript will go to my publisher, who will also return it with suggestions. Again, I'll make the changes (or not) and then it's done. During this time, my small writing group (Nikki, Justin, and Beth) will be reading as I write. They not only give me support and encouragement, they always have really good suggestions (which I'll take or not...are you tired of this phrase?). Ha-ha.

So I'm trying to decide what my commitment will be. I want it to be realistic, because I know how lazy I can be. But I also want it to give me a much needed KITP (kick in the pants). Here's the deal: Starting tomorrow (yeah, I said tomorrow, not today), I will write at least 1,000 words a day. That may be 1,000 a day or 7,000 a week, but it will average to 1K a day.

I've said that since I started viewing writing as a job instead of a hobby that I've done much better. Recently, however, I've been slacking. Book 6 (Who's the Rogue?) took longer than any other book. I've still done six in three years and feel pretty good about it. I want to continue writing at least two a year and this will help me do it.

I'll report, whether the news is good or bad.

I forgot to post this. 7/13/16 One year ago today

One year ago today Quincy IL had a storm of such magnitude that we lost thousands of trees and that many homes and/or cars were damaged. There were so many homes and buildings hurt that some haven't been repaired yet. We had straight line winds that equaled a Category 1 hurricane. Amazing here in tornado country.

I keep thinking I'll put an incident like this in one of my books set in Quincy, but haven't found the right way to do it yet. I often put "real life" things in my books. For example, Book Two (Any Meat in That Soup?) had a murder take place in the ER of a hospital. It was loosely based on the Mike Swango incidents that happened many years ago. However, there was no Mike character and other things were different. Those attempted murders in real life inspired me to write of some real ones.

Other things that come from reality: The Darling siblings resemble mine in many ways. However, there are more Bozarths than Darlings. And we're more sarcastic, and dare I say more fun? We also drink more.

In several of my books there are real names of people, but those are used either at their request or I've asked permission.

In my latest book, Who's the Rogue? the leading man is named Wes Friday. Wes is actually a very talented actor in our area, and he asked if I'd use his name when I stated that I thought it would be an excellent fictional character. In that same book, the director Branson Barkley is an extremely unflattering caricature of our real director—Brandon Thomsen. What they have in common is talent, and that's about it. The real director is much kinder.

There are a few more examples, but overall my characters are not based on real people. They might be an amalgam of several or even many people—a nose here, a mannerism there, a way of speaking, many things go into creating a believable character.

Except George. Sigh. He's just the guy I want to meet. Sigh again.

7/8 Where to write?

I'm trying to write in my usual spot, with Gus, on the Panera patio. However, today it's loud with voices and trucks and sirens. It seems everything is conspiring against the muse today. So instead, I'm going to my sister's house. I swim a while, then write in the gazebo, then swim a while, then write in the gazebo, and so forth. It will be quiet, probably too quiet. I guess I can get the three dogs (including Gus) to chatter a bit so the quiet isn't deafening. At least I can try.

Chapter 2 of Who Dies Next? awaits.

7/6 An inspiring post from Hugh Howey

So if you like science fiction at all, you know who Hugh Howey is. I love his work. And I admire him as a human too. His recent blog post inspired me to think more deeply about what I do with my plots. As you know, if you've read my blog before, I observe people and situations, I eavesdrop (yes, I do), I look at billboards, I read articles, whatever—and that's how the germ of an idea comes to me. Then I add the "what if..." or someone gives that to me. In Can You Picture This? a friend on the Panera patio said, "Yeah, Jer. What if that paparazzi guy rides a bicycle instead of a motorcycle or driving a car?" And off I went. (Yes, I credited him in the Acknowledgements. Didn't I, Joe?)

Anyway, Hugh's post reminded me that I ought to go a step farther. Yeah, it's funny that the dude rides a bicycle and tries to take photos. What else could be broken? Well, in that book the guy uses a Polaroid camera. That brings a smile to my face just thinking about it. And there was one other thing that I could break, and I did. But of course I can't reveal that because I want you to read the book. (It's book 3 in the Sam Darling mystery series.)

So as I sit here, thinking about book 7 (Who Dies Next?), I'm going to apply some of Hugh's ideas to the book. What idea can I take, break it, then break it again. We'll see how it works. (It worked accidentally in Can You Picture This? Now, I want to make it work on purpose.)

Hugh was talking about science fiction. I think the same ideas apply to cozy mysteries.

7/5 Time flies (or has that been said before?)

I can't believe it's been three weeks since I've posted. So many neat things are happening on the writing front. Who's the Rogue? is in Australia in the capable hands of Jason, our formatter at Polgarus Studios. Keri Knutson has designed a gorgeous cover of a lovely home in Quincy. This cover is my favorite, hands down.

I'm working on Book 7. We just came up with the title yesterday—Who Dies Next? Normally titles are easy for me and I come up with them in a snap. However, since I have some requirements—namely, it must be a question, it must be short, and it must be relevant to the story—it's become a little more difficult. So for the first time, my brilliant publisher came up with this title, after I gave her some ideas. I think Who Dies Next? fits the criteria very well.

Triple Trouble is out in paperback and ebook format. And very soon it'll be on SALE in a big way. This book is nearly 700 pages, with three of my books in it. The first three books in the Sam Darling mysteries. From July 23 until August 1, the ebook for Triple Trouble will be on sale for only 99 cents. It's an amazing deal. I sure hope people take advantage of it.