Celebrate the End of Summer with Lyrical Press!

Ever wanted to know the deets on your favorite editors and authors? Well, Lyrical Press is giving them up.

Come join the Lyrical Press Blog Event. Starting today! Read on for the details.

LPI celebrates a great summer of reading with the End of Summer Blog Event. Monday through Friday, August 24 – 28, we’ll feature author and editor profiles on the LPI Blog. Many author profiles will include giveaways, so please come visit for your chance to get to know Lyrical Press and win prizes.
We’ll round out the week with two live blogcasts:

Saturday, August 29, 6 – 9PM Central Time: Author Chat
http://lyricalpress.blogspot.com

Many, many LPI authors will be joining in the fray while Editor in Chief Emma Wayne Porter announces giveaway winners and hands out even more free goodies. Readers are invited to ask questions, hang out, and get to know the people behind all those stories.

Sunday, August 30, 6 – 9PM Central Time: Editor Chat
http://lyricalpress.blogspot.com

During this live blogcast, the LPI editorial staff gets its day in the hotseat. Readers are invited to give their opinions on what kind of stories they want to read. Authors are invited to ask questions about submission guidelines, and maybe even pitch an idea or two. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to speak directly to publishing staff, and be heard!

Renegade Renovation #4 – Floored!

My apologies for not posting recently. The evil day job turned into an evil day and night job until my task in the big ATL was complete. Thank goodness it’s done and I'm home. Now I can get on to what I really want to tell you about.

Remember all that jazz with the drum sander? After several rounds, a coat of sealer and a coat of finish, the floor looks great! Well, for a sixty year-old floor, it came out pretty good. So it won’t have to be covered with carpet or another kind of flooring. Its unique beauty can shine through. And I can walk around barefoot. Yay.

Take a look. Here’s a before from when I started and the color it is now. Check out the little inlays. Courtesy of moi. Aren’t tools fun? That’s where the old ventilation used to be.



I’m thrilled. Now it’s time to finalize the floor plan before framing starts. Uh oh, I think I feel a headache coming on. Tell me, I wanted all theses choices didn’t I? Sure, I did...

Featured Author

Lyrical Press is in the publisher's spotlight at Long and Short Reviews this week. Today I'm their featured author. So stop on by and check it out. There are prizes to be had.

Long and Short Reviews

Enjoy!

Irritation Nation

Welcome to another item on my ever expanding train of blog thoughts. What is it, you ask? Well, this is the spot for me to vent, as it were. Not about things of huge importance in the world, nothing life-threatening. Just those things about which one as an individual can’t really do much, just suffer through the irritation. And it’s not really even about the suffering. These things just aggravate me to no end, okay?

Today’s item: The Fast Lane

Now I might be dating myself here, so bear with me. Do you remember when the left lane of the freeway was truly designated ‘the fast lane’? I clearly remember reading in my driver’s education handbook, ‘Slower traffic should keep to the right’.

It seems as though it’s become the hang out lane. A very special lane for people to go slower than most of the traffic, and they won’t be bothered by the rest of us. Just this week, I’ve seen people holding up traffic in the left lane because they are on their phone, texting, reading a map, and/or eating their lunch.

Don’t misunderstand, I do my share of this on the freeway sometimes too. Just not in the left lane.

I must have missed the rule change here. So if there are people speeding by you on the right and giving you that finger wave which tells you how truly special you are, at least have the courtesy to wave back.

Don't Do It, Just Think About It

Doesn't he look like he's seriously considering doing it?


Why do cats like boxes so much anyway?

I'm thinking he's only in here to keep the other cat out. It's the whole dominance thing in action.

Renegade Renovation #3 - Dancing with a Drum Sander

Courtesy of the local home improvement store, I’ve spent several hours recently, working on the floor. The gooey rubber and glue were mostly gone, so it became time to see if the floor could even be refinished. Take a moment to notice the crossed fingers.

If you don’t know what a drum sander is, please don’t feel like you’ve missed out on anything. It rather resembles the upright version of an old time vacuum, bag and all. The only difference is, instead of the sucking area down front, there’s a drum which holds a sanding belt. Yeehaw.

Back and forth we went, with the grain of course. Music playing, round and round we danced. Belt after belt. Coarse, medium, and fine. Dipping, swaying, swinging right along. With an occasional stop to empty the bag.

Did I mention this is a large area? As in several rooms large? There just aren’t any walls at the moment. The contractor suggested the floor be done before the framing to make it easier. Easier on who? Oh, that’s right, this was my stupid idea. Since the budget won’t allow anyone else to come in and do this professionally, (believe me, I got estimates) guess who’s left? Anyone else want to send in their bright ideas? Evidently I’m open to them.

As soon as I find the energy to vacuum and tack the dust off, we’ll be on to a coat of sanding sealer. In the meantime, I’ve got some writing to do, so I’m outta here.

Side Table Saturday

What’s this you ask? Well, unlike a lot of people, the one thing I don’t do is read in bed. I would be up all night reading. It doesn’t soothe me and make me drift off. It keeps me wide-eyed until the very end. Which means I have no books on my nightstand. Instead, I keep them stacked on a side table, along with my ereader. That way I can grab them coming or going.

Although I write women’s fiction, my taste in reading is somewhat eclectic. If it’s got words on it, I’ll give it a try. I may not go back for seconds, but it’s worth a look the first time around.

Right now, I’m reading an older work of Dean Koontz entitled Velocity. If you don’t mind a little grizzly murder, and love suspense, this is the thriller for you. It’ll keep you turning the page from beginning to end. It’s a wonderfully done, tight, fast-paced read. I couldn’t put it down. My partner suggested I read this, and I’m so glad I did. We were both constantly surprised at the twists and turns of the plot. It’s made dinner conversation at our house rather lively for several nights in a row.

It’s the story of writer/bartender Billy Wiles and what happens to him when his work draws the attention of a killer. I won’t say more than that, simply because I hate spoilers when people recommend a book. Just read it, already!

Wondering what’s on my ereader? You’ll have to wait a day or two to find out. I’m not quite finished with the story and a review (along with a rating system) will be forthcoming.

Cheers!