Now

 I have this problem.  I tend to push off things that are in the future.  It's as if I don't realize that one day they will be now.

I am always surprised at February's shortness and have to remind myself how much quicker March 1, comes so I won't be late on bills.

I am all wrapped up in rewriting the next Yarn Retreat book now.  Once I finished with all the proof reading and corrections for SCONED TO DEATH,  I looked at it as off my plate and viewed the release at sometime in the distant future that I would think about later.

Then the other day, I got an invite to an event at a bookstore in May and the bookstore owner mentioned that SCONED TO DEATH  was coming out in June.  Suddenly, the foggy future seemed a lot sooner than I had thought.  I can't make the bookstore event because it is too far away, but it got my attention. 

 I sent off an email to see if I could set up a blog tour.  I signed up for the Mystery Writers of America  online webinar about promotion. and hope it will give me some  ideas.

The truth is for me that it is all about writing the books and then they're off on their own and belong to whoever reads them.

This reminder that the future becomes the present has definitely gotten my attention and I realized those first of the month bills better get paid now.  

A Setback

             Yes, I’ve had a setback in my current K-9 Crime Solvers series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. I’m nearly through with the edits and final review of the first in the series, K-9 Evidence, but I just received comments on my manuscript for the second in the series that will require a lot of revision. I’ve been working on the third in the series but will need to put it on hold for a while as I do those revisions.

            Frustrating… yes. But I’m still plotting other ideas in my mind, as usual. That’s who I’ve been for a long time and probably who I’ll continue to be, even if few or none of those ideas become novels. Especially since the current revisions and new book to be written will take a while.

            Time to get back to them… And my pups won’t mind continuing to keep me company at my computer.

All in a Name

 This isn't exactly writing related except that it is about words.

 It all started years ago when I saw the listings of cheeses on a cheese plate.  One of them was called Humboldt Fog.  The name captured my imagination but when I saw that it was goat cheese I thought  I wouldn't like it.  Even so the label with the cypress tree logo stuck in my mind.

When I thought of goat cheese, I thought of feta and while I like it in Greek salad, I couldn't really envision it by itself.

Time passed and I discovered that I liked the cheese that came with beets at a restaurant we go to a lot.  They called it goat cheese, but somehow I kept thinking it was feta cheese that was particularly good. It was more like background noise in my mind than anything else.  .

Then by chance someone told me that feta cheese and goat cheese weren't the same.  All it took was some searching and I found out all about feta cheese and why the cheese with the beets was so different.  Feta is a combo of sheep's milk and goat's milk and it's brined which makes it drier with a salty flavor.  The cheese on the beets was creamy and had a richer taste. 

As soon as I realized that I liked goat cheese I thought of  that Humboldt Fog and wanted to try it. Online, I found out  that it tastes like buttermilk and citrus and has a lines of grayish vegetable ash around the eatable rind.  I also found out that its pretty pricey.  On Valentines Day we went to Ojai and stopped in a market there.  The cheese case had small pieces of Humboldt Fog cheese and I decided rather than chocolates, that would be my valentine treat.

The next morning when I was getting ready to have what I call my French breakfast--a croissant from Costco with something on it along with  some fruit,  I took out the Humboldt Fog cheese and cut off a small portion.  And then the big moment as I finally went to taste it.  It wasn't exactly a disappointment..It just wasn't the big moment of deliciousness that I expected.  The name though is appropriate.  The vegetable ash and the translucent consistency near the rind does remind me of fog.

 I was too impatient with the first taste and found that it needs to be room temperature.  I so want to love it all because I love the name.

 

 

 

Entering a Contest Here

            This week, after Valentine’s Day, I saw an organization that supports wildlife’s request for online entries into a contest where you write a six-word story expressing your love of nature. They’ll have several winners, and the prize is just getting your story out there. I wrote two and decided to wait till the next day to send my entries in, even though the deadline wasn’t till a couple of days after that.

Well, when I clicked on the site the next day to send my entries, I got word that they weren’t accepting any more. Apparently a lot of people decided to enter, so many that they had enough to evaluate and choose already.

So, no entry on my part. But I can still let others, like you, read them. Hope you enjoy them. I assume those of you reading this know my love of dogs, but I love most animals, including wildlife.

So, here they are:

Wildlife, wow. Beauty abounds in nature.

Phenomenal world forever? Cue the wildlife!

Hope you liked them.

They didn’t take a long time to write, so I’m continuing review of the final edited version of my first book in my K-9 Crime Solvers series, K-9 Evidence. I’m also working on my third Harlequin Romantic novel in the series.

Back to them--and watching the wildlife in my backyard, mostly squirrels and crows.