Monthly Archives: April 2018

Announcing The Other Lane

Can’t wait for July and need a sneak peek now? You’re in luck, I have one.

On November 1st, 2014, I opened my laptop with a steely determination to actually win Nanowrimo and finish a novel by November 30th. I had been out of school for three years by this point, and the writing burnout from earning my creative writing degree was finally fading. My income had evened out. I was married. Living in a great house. Felix was about six months old and growing more independent every day.

The writing bug had been nibbling at me months. I felt that pull toward the keyboard. Write. Write. Write, it said, but I didn’t have a story in my head yet. I had zero clue where to start.

I also had zero excuses left not to do it.

And all I wanted to do that November was finish something.

So I sat down November 1st and wrote.

And then I did it every day for the next 27 days until I was done.

It was mess of a first draft. And it should have been. Despite the degree, I had never written a novel before. Two years of revision, a few months starting a second project and having another baby, and many late night pep talks later, I had a finished draft of The Other Lane.

And the most exciting news of all is that three months from now, I am going to hold a published book in my own two hands.

That’s right. I said it. I’m doing it.

I’m publishing my own books now.

And the first one is coming out July 10th!

I am doing what is known in the publishing industry as publishing “wide”, which means The Other Lane will be available on  nook, Kobo, iBooks, Amazon, and also available on library services like Overdrive.

There is still a ton of work to get done in the next few weeks, and I will be updating the blog as the big day gets closer. But, if you want to hear all the new before anyone else, join my newsletter. If you do, you’ll also get the first 50 pages of The Other Lane to peruse at your leisure on your favorite ereader.

Here we go big scary world. Let’s do this thing!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Smile…

Puppy smiles 🙂

 

100_0977 (5)

 

 

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/smile/

Even A Badass Needs a Nap

Yes, I am calling myself a badass. Look at that badass messy desk.

I woke up at 8:06 this morning.

We leave for school at 8:05.

I know what you’re thinking, what happened to getting up at 5:30 to get your word count in? I thought that was a thing you were doing.

It is, and I am. A week and a half in, getting up that early every day still isn’t easy, but I love the quiet and the freedom it gives me for the rest of my day when I’m not stressing when and how I’m going to cram in the rest of my words.

But today?

Today Rufus happened.

Rufus has started sleeping through the night–mostly. Sometimes he gets up at 3:30 am and won’t go back to sleep. Then I get up and get all of my early morning things accomplished extra early, but by the time we get through the school day and I spend a few hours on my feet at work, I go from a badass writer mom who does it all to a spitting mad badass you don’t want to mess with.

And then Rufus wants to get up at the same the next morning, and I have to tell you, I do not do so well on four hours of sleep or less. So this morning, when Rufus woke up and I was able to get him to go back to sleep, I fell asleep right along with him.

When my alarm went off, I shut that sucker down and kept right on snoozin.

Then of course, I panicked when I realized exactly how long I’d slept and the whole day was thrown outta whack.

But you know what? I’m not sorry.

My sore, overworked body needed those couple hours of extra sleep, and so did my husband. So did Rufus. Sure, Felix was five minutes late for school, but we got there right as they were serving breakfast, so it was a win all the way around.

Have I fit my word count in yet? No.

Maybe I won’t today.

And I’m OK with that.

I gave myself a break today, because obviously my body needed rest. Instead of writing, I knit at my desk while I watched some author business related videos I’ve been saving up. Those were way scarier than not hitting my word count.

And even of you are badass, it’s OK to give yourself a break when you do big and scary things.

I’ll be back at it tomorrow, plugging away at the keyboard as well as making my terrible and great plans for world book domination.

Stay tuned, and don’t push yourself too hard. Even badasses need a nap now and then.

 

 

Looking Back At April 2009 (Dog Sitting)…

April 2009…A friend of my daughter Deb’s asked us if we’d like to dog sit for their two Labs, Silas and Balou.  So Deb, her dog Chappy and I set out for MV .No matter how many times I go to the Vineyard my heart skips a beat or two when I see the above sign and the rotary welcoming you to Cape Cod. This was our first time sailing on the then new ferry, Island Home. Seven miles and 45 minutes later we touched tire in Vineyard Haven. We were about to start an Island adventure like none before.

100_8616 (2) Here is Deb surrounded by a happy, friendly threesome. Chappy on the left, Balou in the front and Silas being petted. We have never met nicer dogs, they are well behaved, sweet, gentle and loving, patient and fun. There wasn’t one moment that we didn’t enjoy being with them. Oh, okay, maybe when Balou was trying so hard to tell us things and we just were too slow on the uptake… but generally speaking (or woofing) things went very, very well.

100_8636 Except for the weather. Two of the days we were there were wet… very, very wet. And when they said soaking rain they meant it.

100_8646 (2) This picture was taken from inside our dry car looking out at Edgartown Harbor. Wet, wet, wet. It was windy too. And wet.

But there were times of no rain and actuall brilliant sunshine and so off on our walks in the woods we would venture. The 4 leggeds were happy to be out and about sniffing, walking, and being together.

In all too short a time our dog sitting adventure came to an end and it was time to head home.

Chappy is waiting to say goodbye to his new friends. He had a great time with Silas and Balou.

The Island Home is waiting for us and all too soon we are setting tire in Woods Hole and back to reality.

This of course is my take on our dog sitting adventure but Chappy himself made a guest appearance on the blog and really, you should read his… CLICK HERE

Here’s a little bit of what Chappy eloquently had to say:

*’a friend of my mom’s invited us to dog sit… I didn’t actually notice anyone sitting like a dog (except my dog friends) but humans have weird jargon sometimes. I just go with the flow and don’t ask questions.

And….

Oak Bluffs is another of our favorite towns to walk around in.  If you look really really close you can see mom and me standing outside the movie theatre on the corner.  She’s taking photos and I’m trying to keep one eye on her and one eye on gram who wandered off to the other side of the information booth.  Man, keeping them together would be so much easier if they were both leashed.

❤

Pattern Release: Carpinteria Shawl

Meet the Carpinteria Shawl!

I love playing with vintage lace patterns, and adapting them to more modern designs (Tricho, Cereus, Ferru, Buteo, Pygmy Owl, Beneath the Moon, Isn’t it Romantic?, Under the Sun). This one uses the big flower from Niebling’s Anemone but changes its center stitch pattern to reflect the stitch pattern of the body as well as a few other tweaks.

The pattern includes a section on blocking as well.

Do check out the images from the test thread here — you can see it in different colors and yarns!

Here are the details!

This lovely crescent shawl, worked from the textured portion to the lacy edging, features a leaf and flower pattern inspired by Niebling’s Anemone table cloth pattern.

Carpinteria californica, also known as the Bush Anemone, is a California native plant, with glossy green leaves and beautiful white flowers.

One size, easily altered

Finished Measurements
Length along bottom edge: 103¾“ / 263.5 cm
Length along cast on edge: 51¾” / 131.5 cm
Depth along sides: 21” / 53.5 cm

Yarn
Elemental Affects Cormo Lace, 100% Wool (1140 yds / 1060 m per 4 oz / 112g), 2 skeins Chambray
As knit, shawl weighed 152 g and used 1548 yds / 1415 m.

Needles
US 1.5 / 2.5 mm circular needles or size to obtain gauge

Gauge
23 sts and 23 rows = 4” / 10 cm in WFS pattern, blocked (see Swatch directions)

Notions
(7) stitch markers to separate repeats, yarn needle

Skills
Lace, reading charts