Manicate Monday

manicate ~ having a woolly growth that can be peeled off

Last week pretty much made up for the previous really bad weeks I've had lately.

The only post I missed last week was the flash fiction, and that was due to circumstances beyond my control. My two serial posts were late going up, but everything else was on time.

Not only did the writing go really well last week, but other stuff went well too. I had some unexpected houseguests who fortunately gave me some warning because the guest room looked like it had one of those donation bins dumped in it. Not only did I have the room cleaned up, but there were fresh sheets and blankets on the bed and clean towels for them. And the meals went without a hitch - nothing burned, everything on time, no last minute disasters. It went so well it kind of freaked me out.

My sister was given a Kobo (e-reader) for mother's day and still does not know how to use it. She never synced it before so while she was here I helped her do that. Suddenly she had all these books downloading. Turns out her husband has some kind of tablet and was using her Kobo account to download books to his tablet, which meant they ended up downloading onto her Kobo as well. She's just happy she has more than a handful of books on there now, so I guess that's all that really matters.

Saturday morning a couple of my writing buddies dragged me kicking and screaming to a seminar on publishing at the library of the next town over. Ed Greenwood (yes, the famous one who created the Forgotten Realms) gave a very interesting talk on the different stages of traditional publishing, and Shane Joseph gave us some editing/formatting tips for self publishing.

I'm really hoping my luck holds for this week - it's supposed to be grey and miserable, and you know by now what that means. I'm not even asking for good luck - just not bad luck. *knock wood - don't want to tempt the Fates*.

For a change, my weekend wasn't quite as productive as my week. After the seminar on Saturday we went to the wedding of the son of my husband's cousin, which pretty much took up the rest of that day. It was one of the biggest weddings I've ever been to. And has anyone noticed that people don't seem to get married in churches any more? What's up with that?

As for Sunday, I started out being all organized, but in an effort to make sure supper was right on time (the kid's request) I decided to get things started in the morning so all I'd have to do is pop them into the oven at the appropriate time. Only one of the peppers I was going to use for potato stuffed peppers was black inside. Which meant an unplanned trip to the grocery store, which is quite the adventure in parking these days. From there I never did seem to get my day back on track, but I will say that supper was served on time. :-)

I was surfing around on Facebook last night - okay, wasting time on Facebook - and I followed a link to this website that debunks all those amazingly weird animal pictures you have popping up on Facebook. Things like the Two-headed Kestrel, or the Venezuelan Poodle Moth. And on this site I got a really cool idea for a shapeshifter novel. Not that I need another novel idea, but it was still a good one. :-)

I have found the ultimate in distractions! I give you . . . The Kitten Cam! Seriously, you have to check this out. These guys are too cute for words!

What’s Up This Week:
The schedule is up on the side bar, so I’m just giving the highlights here.

Tuesday On Random Thoughts I will be posting the eleventh installment of Cheeses of the World, Gouda Cheese. The book review on Random Writings will be I'll Be Yours For Christmas, by Samantha Hunter. I actually finished reading this quite some time ago and can't believe I haven't reviewed it before.

Wednesday (on Random Writings) Chapter Seventy-one of Shades of Errol Flynn. Still not sure how Jessica's friends are going to break her out of jail - good thing they appear to know. On Random Thoughts there’ll be a hunk and a hussy for your viewing pleasure. ;-)

Thursday we have Chapter Thirty-six of Water (on Random Thoughts). Now that Ravi's an experienced breeder, what's next for him?

Friday On Random Writings I seem to be on a roll and will once again present a new poetry form. And hopefully I'll be able to finish the flash from last week for Random Thoughts. But you never know what the week may bring. :-)