Getting Ready for April

April....
This is the month that I'm busy as hell. First I'll be 42 on the 7th. The rest are annual physicals, dental visits, therapy, med checks, CampNaNoWriMo and of course 'Spring Cleaning'.

On the 1st I will start working on my WIP-9 (aka Love of Nessa) for CampNaNo. Camp is a bit different than November's NaNo. Camp you get tossed into 'cabins' where you meet new writers and encourage each other. Also, you can set your own word count goal. This year mine is 35,000 words. That should finish Love of Nessa.
Nessa is a frightened young female. She has been sheltered and told she is nothing all her life. As her 19th birthday approaches she is handed over to an Alpha to be his mate. Dante, the Alpha, is ancient, though his heritage makes him look only 30. They have to find a way to live with each other, not to mention the war that is brewing. 
Usually Camp Cabins are quiet, last Camp I had a very active group and loved it. Sign up (campnanowrimo.org) and have fun...

My birthday will just like any other day...
I will sleep, take meds, eat and write. Maybe some Netflix in there too. I won't get presents just left alone for the weekend. Which is preferred. I'll cook slow cooker meals and wait til the Sunday for kiddo-2 to do the dishes.

Spring Cleaning will consist of washing windows, wiping baseboards, hand scrubbing the floors, vacuuming furniture & beds, and of course cleaning out pantry, frig and freezer.
The frig & freezer should be fairly easy since I keep up on it every month. The pantry however is only done in the spring. That might take hours. Good thing I can set up a card table to pull everything out, check dates, pitch old stuff and wipe shelves down.

My reading selection will probably be Jacquelyn Frank's Nightwalkers series and Katie Reus's Red Stone Security series.
Nightwalkers is a series about earth based demons that really aren't demons the way most think.
Red Stone Security is not my normal because it is not paranormal. It's a mystery romance.
Both will be re-reads. I re-read many of my favorite series a lot. Look to the right column for a list of the favorite ones I can read a hundred times over. You might like some of them.

It's Time to Meet Naleena

Naleena is in for a major change. Here is the beginning.

Packing the final bag, Naleena’s excitement increased. Finally after weeks of arguing she’s leaving for Chicago to see her baby brother. Council, the three ruling males of all shifters tried to stop her but they had finally given in two days ago. She knew it was because her best friend, Dalara, a special wolf, had been kidnapped. Dalara was known as The Recessive to all shifters. She is coveted and has immense power. After she came back Council had insisted on everyone moving into pack houses of the Alpha house. That meant everyone living on Dalara’s property. Naleena had been raised to think she was human. That had all changed when Dalara learned she was not human either. It had taken time to get her mind to believe in all the supernatural stuff. Even now her feelings for Takoda, her Beta and sorta boyfriend, were all over the place. Yes she had liked him fr a few years but they had only started dating a few days before she learned of everything. Nothing had been the same between them. Yes, they went out about once a week but that was it. Something between them had changed when Council insinuated they were to be married, mated. This trip was to get away from it all and to relax. Naleena had traveled all over the country the last few months checking in on all the North American packs.
Zipping the bag, Naleena walked down the stairs to the front door. Though she didn’t get far when Dalara stopped her.
“Sneaking away huh?”
“I just want out.” She knew Dalara understood.
“I know. Drive safe and come back quick.” With a hug she let Naleena leave.
The six hour drive was long but gave Naleena time to think. She had to keep what she was secret from her brother. Council said he wasn’t to know any of it. Again she tried to tell them he wouldn’t say anything. In the end she gave in to their order. It might not be too hard. She had figure out what to say about her work. The work she was now doing for Council, translating very old Latin to current English and traveling. Just so he doesn’t ask what she does when she travel. That wasn’t going to be an easy answer.
Sooner than she thought she was pulling up to her brother’s new apartment building. Tristan must have been watching since he was at her door as she turned off the car.
“Wow! Where’d you get this beauty?”
“New job, more money.”
He grabbed her bags as soon as she popped the trunk. She followed him up two flights of stairs . When Naleena walked in she found the place spacious and clean. Something that was unusual. Tristan had always had tiny one room apartments. “How can you afford this place?”
“I took a second job.” He turned and smiled, “Don’t worry I aced all my classes.”
“Good. Did you tell mom you moved?”
“Yes, and heard how I need to settle down, stay with a job and find a nice girl to give her move grand-babies.”
“She never stops. I hear I’m getting to old not to be married and have three kids.”
They both laughed. Their sister married right out of high school and has two kids. Their mother thought they all should have but college was more important to them than families. Tristan was almost done with his PhD in, of all things, Biochemistry with a minor in zoology.
“You’re done in December, right?”
“No, I’m done now. I just want to take Advanced Latin.”
“You never told me you took Latin. Why the hell did you keep it from me?”
“You’d say I took it because you did.”
“No. I like the idea.” Now only if he was wolf. It would make her job easier to have him help her.
“So lunch is pizza down the block.”
Silence was not a norm for them but as they walked they didn’t speak. She was getting used to scenting feelings and Tristan was nervous.
They ordered their pizza and she finally had enough. “What’s wrong Tristan? You’re too quiet.”
“Well, umm… it’s about your job.”
“What about it?”
“You’ve never told me what your doing.”
“Oh, well I’m translating books right now.”
“And the traveling?”
“Well, I check on rentals for my bosses. They have hundreds all over the country.”
“OH! I thought with that new car it was drug dealers you were working for.” A shy smile told her that he was feeling stupid to think that.
“NO, nothing illegal, I promise.”
Something caught her attention as the door closed. She looked and it was a man, no not a man a male. Sage had told her there was only one in Chicago and it was a female. The hairs on her neck were stand up and she got the chills. There was nothing she could really do without Tristan jumping in with more questions.
“What are you looking at?”
“Oh I thought I knew that guy.” She nodded over to the male.
“You saw him when we went upstairs. He lives across the hall. Just moved in. I think his name is Jim. He asked about you when I said I was waiting for you. I couldn’t remember the name of the town but told him you lived in southern Illinois.”
Naleena gasped. If someone was asking about her, they knew she was Sage’s. Why would he moved in just before she came up here, across the hall no less. He’d be able to hear everything.
“Are you okay sis?”
“Yeah, I’m just tired from driving. Would you mind if we called it a day?”
“It’s only two, but yeah. I rented movies and made sure I have plenty of popcorn.”
“That sounds great.” As they headed out the male waved to Tristan, but he stared at Naleena like he was pissed or something. She needed to talk to Sage or Council. This didn’t seem right. Knowing she needed to be away from the male to call when they got back to the apartment she went into the bathroom, locked the door, turned on the water and called Sage. She got voice-mail. Calling Drewdon he answered on the first ring. Damn precognition.
“Naleena, what is the trouble you have found yourself in already?”
“Drewdon, I can’t talk long. Sage said there is only a female here but a male moved across the hall from Tristan and was asking about me. He made me uneasy when we were at the pizza place.”
“No male should be there. Sage would have told you.”
“Maybe you were right and I shouldn’t have come.”
“Why do you feel that way?”
“I don’t know. I feel something bad is gonna happen.”
“Don’t worry, Sampson is just a few blocks from you.”
“What? You sent him after me, after you said I could go alone?”
“Amos is still out there. You are close to Council. I could not let you go alone. Sampson was to keep his distance and just watch over you.”
“Well, he should have seen the male then.”
“I shall call him. I will call you back.” Click.
Naleena knew she was going to be sent home. Splashing water on her face she went to watch movies. She couldn’t follow anything that was going on in the movie, she didn’t even know the first one was over until Tristan broke through her thoughts.
“What ya want to watch next? I’ve got Twilight and some horror flick the girl said was great.”
“Twilight.” Her voice sounded off and distant but Tristan had never learned to pick up on that.
Her phone rang making her jump. “It my boss, I’m gonna take it in the bathroom.”
Tristan gave her a strange look but said nothing.
“Drewdon.” Once the water was on she felt better.
“Sampson says it is not a male he knows. I would feel better if you moved to Council’s penthouse suite that Sampson is at.”
“And what am I supposed to tell Tristan?”
“That Sampson is your male and he surprised you.”
“No, Tristan knows about Takoda and me.”
“Then say he works with you and offered to share the suite.”
“Fine, whatever, I’ll think of something.”
“He will be there in moments. Do as he says.” Click. Naleena had always hated the fact Council never said bye but just hung up.
Now all she had to do was make up a story her brother would believe. Taking a deep breath she went to tell  Tristan.
“Sis, what’s gong on? You’ve been distracted. Who was on the phone?

©2016 Jessica Markley

It's MAY!

It's May and it's going to be a very long month. I have my son's graduation, many more disability appointments, getting my daughter ready for braces and cooking healthier with less money. Then you need to add writing and cleaning.

Today I have begun making all homemade broths for one-pot meals. I am saving over $40 by making my own. I am enjoying getting back to cooking like my great-great aunt did. With my girl wanting more vegetarian meals veggie broth is my largest batch. And thanks to my ex-mother-in-law, I now have a 12 quart stock pot to make it easier. It's what she got me for an early Mother's Day present.

A few recipes I'm making are the following:
Spinach & Artichoke One Pot (my girl's fav)
Chicken, Orzo, & Spinach 
Vegan Pasta
Chicken Lo Mein

I have found that eating healthier is costing me more money when it comes to fresh vegetables. How are we suppose to eat fresh like The First Lady wants when many can't afford it. A head of cauliflower is $3 and carrots are $2 but if I bought frozen it would be half of that here. The prices of onions have been slowly increasing as well as tomatoes, and all fruit.

My son's graduation open house is the 23rd and his graduation is the 24th. I still can't believe he's graduating already. I still think he's my lil' boy but since he has been living with his father (half the time) for 2 months now, he has grown up so much. I didn't want him to live there but it seems to be a good choice.

I am a proud mother of a 17 year old graduating son!

I have completed another CampNaNo in April. With just over 51k of my 50k goal. Of course my OCD kicked in and I have started it over. I have finished WIP-2 (the 1st in series). It'll be going off to a beta reader in the next few weeks. I'm excited yet nervous.

I am also 9 books ahead on my Goodreads reading challenge.  Having read 34 of the 75 I pledged. I re-read Bayou Heat series and Guardians of Eternity series. Now I'm working on Sookie Stackhouse (aka True Blood) re-read.

A Long Day!

Today is another day where all I want to do is cuddle up with a blanket and a great sexy book. Well, I'm not going to get time for it. As a single parent I have to clean the house AGAIN, figure out what to fix for dinner and still find time to write.
Here's my schedule:
10am-clean living room
11am- write
12pm- eat something
1pm- clean kitchen/ do dishes (daughter made monkey bread and left a mess)
2pm- write
3pm- have after school snack ready
4pm- start dinner
5pm- dinner and clean up
6pm- watch House
7:30pm- clean bathroom
8pm- write
9pm- get ready for bed
9:30pm- bedtime!!!
Yes it's a busy day. I'm thinking of editing my very first attempt of a novel. 'Inevitable Destinyz' needs a lot of edits and possibly split it into 2 novels since it's so long.
Thinking of posting an excerpt later this week.

Only good news is that I'm loving tsu.co. Hop over and join in. It's a lot like facebook but you see all friends posts.
https://www.tsu.co/jessi47

Hope to hear from you soon.

Writing is Hard

As I write today I realise that it's not easy. I have 1 that needs editing like crazy and 3 that needs to be finished. Why can't I just stay focused on 1 of them. Yep, you guessed it, plot bunnies driving me in so many directions.
Excerpt from #WIP3

Tasmina didn’t know where she was going but she knew she had to get away from him. How could this be happening? Her life was just getting on track, school, being able to walk around without fear’ well much fear anyway.  It was a life she thought she’d never have after everything she’d went through as a pup. She had thought it was in the past, now he brought it to the front of her thoughts. Thoughts she didn’t want back. Once she slowed down she scented to see if anyone was following her, no she was alone. The only scent she found was that of the stream running through the land. Knowing the visiting wolves weren’t allowed there she sat down. Thoughts of Amos and the dungeon rushed back. Feeling as though she was in it she began to shake, sweat and fear was rolling off her. This was how it would be with Elijah. He was of old days, kept his pack in order with whippings. Another thing she was all too familiar with. Though the scars on her back had healed without the faintest line, her inner scars were there to stay. She can’t go through that again and she wouldn’t. If that went going anomic then so be it. She had left her tracking sense open to keep herself safe, now she scented a male within a few yards. One she wasn’t familiar with. Must be one of those looking for their true-mate, something she never thought of doing. Tracking his movement she sensed he moved in another direction, to a path that was further away from her. Wondering why others wanted to mate, she thought of how her parents had been. They were true-mates and died within six months of each other, she being only four. Memories of them were faint but she knew they loved each other with all they had. Pictures of them holding hands and smiling at each other when they thought no one was looking made her wolf stir.

(c) Jessica Markley 2014

See not my best work but it's the first draft so I'll go with it for now. Back to fingers flying over the keyboard. #WriteClub today. Hoping to hit 5k new words. More updates soon.

One Holiday Down!

With Thanksgiving done and over with I'm doing better than I thought. I wrote all day instead of being with family. Yes, I know holidays are to be spent with family, well you don't know my family, at least most of it. Plus I'm a bit antisocial and would rather be in my own little world with my characters. My kids had a good time with their other side of their families which I'm grateful for.

Those of you know me, I've started yet another #WIP (work in progress) since I finished and won #NAoNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) with just over 50k words. It's in the same series as the last 2 that aren't finished. #WIP1 is only 2 chapters away from being done and #WIP2 has a ways to go. The nasty plot bunnies decided I needed to jump to #WIP3. It's flowing nicely so I'm sticking with it for now. As those bunnies stop with #WIP3 I'll finish up the 1st once and hand it over to an editor. Then work on second. Hoping to finish by March plus have edits done to my YA (young Adult) #WIP that I started 5 years ago.
Remember that the excerpts I post here are ones unedited. There will be many changes in the future I think.

Here is an excerpt from current #WIP3
"She tossed and turned. The smell of woods and power lingered in her nose and mind. It was nothing she had ever really paid attention to. Scenting was the one thing she tried not to do. All she would scent was if it was male, female or human. When she finally fell asleep it wasn't a good sleep. Her dreams were full of fear, terror and pain."

Well, now it's time to tame those plot bunnies and get back to writing. Have a productive week.

10 Days and I'm Done

As there is 10 days left for NaNoWriMo, I have passed the 50k mark. Only a day behind last year. For the last week I had been struggling to get there. Now that I've hit goal, I have all these plot bunnies running in my head. With them in there I now have 2 more ideas for novels. Yeah, not like I don't have to finish the 2 I have almost finished.

As for editing, I'm working on the 1st in the Tamesville Series. Hoping to get 'Dalara' to my beta-reader by the first of the year. Then publish by March. I have my doubts it will be any good or even sell. Never hurts to try. I'll be blogging about the process once I get there.

With the holidays coming, it's time to slow my pace down and relax. I plan on writing on Thanksgiving and Christmas since I stay home while the kiddos see family. We will have a combo meal the 1st weekend of December; turkey, ham and all the fixings.  My house is still pretty much clean and so it's food prepping I will have to do.

What to do With Loss

As children we make friends; some life-long and some short term. As we get older we reconnect with many through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. As an aspiring writer, I have found that long ago friends can help in my process of my writing.

Daveiy back in the day

Yesterday I loss a life-long friend that has been in and out of my life for more than 30 years. He was strong, kind, caring, and always optimistic. When we were teenagers he was considered scary and would fight to protect his friends and family. Always with the law involved in his life because of his caring. Many thought he was a bad influence, to me he was a savior to many. He brought me through many writer's block this last 2 years. With him gone it has inspired another character. We all take loss of a friend or family member differently. Some of us cry, some loose themselves, and some look to the happy moments. I find a character. Is this strange? Maybe, but I don't care; Daveiy will live on in one of my characters and that is how I will morn.

Daveiy this year with his beloved puppy!

I am just starting out as a writer and I hope I can manage to do Daveiy proud as I develop his character. As I write my love and loss of him shall live on. His memory shall be kept forever in my words.

It's Been Awhile

I really need to keep up. It has just been so stressful the last few months. Now I'm just getting over a sinus infection, ear infection and an upper respiratory infection. Not 100% better but about 98%. Now to update you.

•  I've been reading a New to Me series. Mark of the Vampire by Laura Wright. Review maybe in a few days.
• Working on my Twitter writing account and blog for Get Wordies.
• Planning November's NaNoWriMo stuff.
• Getting kids ready for another year of school. My son'd last year in high school :( Yes, I'm old as dirt as my kids say.
• Washer exploded water all over the kitchen and living room. Damn floor is sloped the wrong way. None of the water went near the floor drain. 
• I started Chantix to help me quit smoking. I'm down 90% maybe more. 
• Dalara is coming along great. I have about 3 chapters to go before I send it to someone to edit. 
• I have an idea for cover that I never thought I would like. Having a friends help out with it. Love knowing photographers. Maybe I'll even do an Author shoot. I know I'm getting ahead of myself.
• I'm thinking about writing a novella between now and November as well as finishing Dalara. 
• Inevitable Destinyz has been set aside.

Wow that is tons of info in short space.  

The novella I'd do is a paranormal romance that has nothing to do with any of my novels in progress. Now off I go to research a bit more on men's feelings...I know that will be a chore and a half.