A busy life

I’ve been soooo busy lately.

First, there’s Beau. My beloved horse has had a few issues with his back and weight and behavior…gah! It’s enough to worry about than to have everything else in life.

Luckily, I think I have things figured out. Big relief there. 1) He needs more hay than what the other horses get, because he works a whole hell of a lot harder than any other horse where I board, and he’s still growing besides. I think I have the barn owner convinced that he just needs more, because he’s been getting a little more and is looking much better; but I’d like to see even more weight on him. (She likes to keep things minimal for cost savings, understandably, but some horses need more.) 2) I needed to change my saddle pad. I swapped out the riser insert pad I was using all this time for a normal saddle pad with my gel pad on top of that. Wow! No back issues whatsoever (a pro massage a couple weeks ago helped too). 3) He needs regular massaging after our work. I’ve been using a special grooming curry called a Unigroom that I’ve had for years that gives a deep massage, and he loooves it (my mare never liked it much). It’s great to see him enjoy having his back curried again. 4) If I sit the trot picking it up and for the first few strides, I do what the judge said to me in equitation at our first show a month ago and sit up right to be more effective with my back. Beau then has less “noise” and my half-halts are clearer. I also need to ask for more forward at the trot. The result was that he was awesome Friday night and his canter was balanced all the way too. So, a lot of discovery lately with my horse.

In a week and a half, I have another lesson with my insructor.

Second, I’ve been working my a@@ off trying to figure out what Starfire Angels book 3 is supposed to be. After 42K on the latest draft, I scrapped most of that and wrote a whole new synopsis. This time, I actually know the ending and the characters feel like their old selves again. I have a hard time writing when I don’t know the ending. And by ending, I mean the climax action specifically and the threads that need to be wrapped up. I didn’t have that before. Nothing was clear, so I was kind of jumping all over. Now, I feel like the story is there just waiting for me to transcribe it. That’s a great feeling.

Third, I put out two books within a two-week period. A LOT of work went into both. I had fans eager for BW’s release, and I was able to get it out a month earlier than planned.

Fourth, I’ve been co-hosting a discussion of WHEN ANGELS CRY on nookboards.com/forum. It was primarily hosted by a new fan of the series who loved STARFIRE ANGELS so much she wanted to host a book club for the prequel. It’s a lot of fun talking about my book with readers and discussing the different aspects. I especially like to read their interpretation of events and characters. It’s amazing and gratifying, even if we don’t always agree. I can’t wait for the September book club to start for STARFIRE ANGELS. Everyone interested in reading and discussing SA is welcome, and I’m supplying free ebooks to all who wish to participate. Instructions are in the thread for the book club.

Fifth, I still have my contest going for blogging/tweeting mention of BROKEN WINGS being available. It doesn’t require a review, just basic book info for readers to find it. Send me the link to your blog post/tweet and I’ll enter you in a drawing for a $20 gift card for Amazon or Barnes and Noble. It’s that simple, really. Details are on my website.

Last of all, I’m also trying to edit DESTINY for November release and trying to squeeze in reading other stories in the meantime, be a mother, keep the house clean, and get oldest off to first grade in less than two weeks.

It’s a busy life.