Hi, Folks! Hope you’re all having a great Wodin’s Day, and things are going along at least fairly smoothly for most of you. Just wanted to take a moment to catch you up a bit on a few things.
THIS: First things first. After well over 20 years of blogging (since before they were called blogs, and were usually referred to as Bulletin Boards), I’ve finally been forced to admit that I’m having a lot of trouble juggling all the things I’m trying to do these days. Once you’ve fallen behind, catching up is next to impossible, as I’m sure many of you have experienced from time to time. So, with that in mind–and after having read several articles and blog posts on the subject–I’ve decided I need to take blog breaks now and then.
This is to let you know that I’m aiming for one day a week, and while I’ll be flexible according to what I have going on, I’ll probably take them on Thursdays or Fridays, depending on what I’ve got scheduled that week. For instance, this week I have ThorsDaySmile scheduled tomorrow, so I’ll take my day off this Friday. Next week, I have #GrannySays scheduled for Friday, so I’ll take it on that Thursday. Alternating between Thursdays and Fridays should work, because I do like to be on hand to respond to comments on days when I have something posted.
I’m hoping I can get myself dug out of this crater I’m in, and maybe even get back to work on my novella, Cole, Cole, & Dupree. (I miss Rabbit!) Wish me luck! 😊
AND THAT: Next, I want to remind you that I still have some fall openings for the #TenThingsList series, so if you’d like to take part, just drop me an email and we’ll find a date to hold for you. (I won’t need your actual post until a week before it’s due to go live.)
I’d also like to let you know that I’m ready to start scheduling #GuestDayTuesday posts again (like the one Amy Reade shared yesterday.) I’m pretty flexible with those, as they are meant to help you in all sorts of ways. If you have a new release, if you want to generate some interest in an older book, if you have a cover reveal, or an event coming up you want to promote–#GuestDayTuesday is perfect for that. Just email me so we can choose a date that will work for both our schedules, and I’ll happily share your good news with the Immediate World.
AND THAT OTHER THING: Last, I’m leaving you with some words of advice I hope you’ll take to heart. If you live in the southeastern part of the country, you’ll understand exactly what I mean when I caution you to WATCH YOUR STEP when outside. While planting a new hedge this weekend, I stepped into a fire ant nest hidden below the mulch and got swarmed. I’m sure the neighbors were thrilled with my shrieking and hollering as I danced around the yard, trying to get those Minions from the Dark Side off my feet. I did succeed, but not before I had 29 bites on one foot and 20 on the other. Now if you live in a part of the country where these miserable invasive ants have moved in, you’ll know how painful a fire ant bite is. The rest of you will have to take my word for it. See?
Fire ants attach themselves to you with their jaws, which hurts enough as it is, and then bend double and sting the HE** outta you.
Their venom is nasty enough to make awful sores, and many people are hospitalized if they are victims of too many bites or have an allergic reaction to them. They can kill small animals, and make children very, very sick. So, in spite of how bad these hurt and how long they’ll take to go away, I was actually lucky. (And I’ll keep telling myself that over and over until I stop shrieking “Yeah, RIGHT!”
And there you have my very first This and That and That Other Thing post.
There will no doubt be more of these now and then.
Be afraid. Be very afraid!