Rinda Elliott's Blog, page 22

Feel so bad about neglecting this blog, so I'm sharing a bit. I had surgery and am not popping back as quickly as we hoped I would, but I'm hanging in there. So this blog will stay quiet a bit longer while I concentrate on healing.

Again, apologies for my absence on this blog. Hang with me. I had to out some of the reason on Facebook due to wall comments. I'd deleted some, but you know how it can be.

I have been unwell and we thought it was an abscessed tooth, then other things. After about a gazillion tests and doctor visits, we narrowed the problem down to one tiny (heinous bitch) organ. So, I'm meeting with a surgeon next week to get it out and from what I understand, my life will be mine once again after this. I may end up writing a post on the different pain, the severe headaches, etc. I think most people equate a bad gallbladder with nausea, etc. Oh no, it can do so much more! Maybe a post would lead Internet searchers here and not to some of the SCARY websites I ended up on when googling certain pains.

But I will be back with bells on. I have books to finish and hopefully, books to promote.

So, in the meantime, check out my guests at The Deadline Dames today. Moira Rogers has a new and exciting post-apocalyptic romance series out with truckers. How cool, eh?

http://www.deadlinedames.com/dame-for-a-day-moira-rogers/

I've been fighting health stuff and am hoping we finally figured out what's causing my problems. Normally I wouldn't share health stuff on the net, but it's a freaking inner ear issue. I had no idea it would cause so many problems. But I'm feeling cautiously hopeful that we figured this puppy out and that means no more fuzzy brain, vertigo and migraines. That means LOTS of writing to come. Yay!

Hope you all had way more fun over the holidays.

Occasionally, we hit a place where we're forced to take a break. As you can tell by this blog, I've sort of been in that place. Popping my head in to say I'm still alive isn't the best way to keep a website fresh and interesting. My problem is I haven't felt fresh or interesting. How about a little honesty?

I was so excited a few years ago to sign with my agent. I had a couple of agents interested and a couple more had made full requests off partials and it felt like this career I've chased my entire life was finally going to move.

But it didn't.

It is truly tough. The waiting. I'm told 2008 was the worst year for publishing and that's when I went out with my UF series. I've taken more pieces out and there are still places considering my work, but the wait finally got to me this year. Thing is, my family went through and is still struggling through a financial storm we didn't create. So, I moved on to write in a genre I hoped would work to help my family and discovered I truly enjoyed writing the sexier stuff. So, I'll be sticking with that genre. If you happened to miss the announcements on Twitter and at The Deadline Dames, I have a pen name and am writing erotic romances and um, having a blast with them. I wrote a few shorter pieces to get things going and am now working on a series of longer books. I have a great agent who loves my writing and continues to support me and now I have great editor who also really seems to love my writing. Let me just say, that after all this time waiting, this is so, so nice.

So, I've been pulling out of my funk. I still hope to sell my urban fantasy and young adult work. No matter what I do, those threads of hope remain strong.

Test post.

I will be writing on this blog again soon. Have been trying to figure out how to stop it from feeding into Facebook. That program is stopping soon, but FB doesn't make changing your settings easy. Not a fan of FB.

What's going on?

Followers of this blog-long time anyway-know my love for music is intense. I did another music blog at the Deadline Dames today. All songs that have inspired something in my writing. Have fun!

http://www.deadlinedames.com/?p=8266

Do you have hobbies that give you a sense of peace? One of mine is cooking and even more specifically, baking. I was without an oven for a time. We had these 30 inch double ovens that were big and perfect and I loved them like crazy because I could fit a huge turkey in one and have two or three large things cooking in the other. But this particular (expensive) model had a massive flaw. If you ran the self-cleaning option, it fried the whole appliance.

Now, I did my usual thing and researched, found this happened to a LOT of these models, found the usual culprits and ordered the parts. We didn't call out a repairman because my husband can usually repair things and I'd researched the schematics. We changed out two thankfully inexpensive parts and though the oven came back on, it powered itself off when it reached a certain temp. We had priced main boards and knew we couldn't yet afford to repair this oven, so we decided to do without for a time. I learned more about grilling than ever before and I've made countless skillet and crock pot dishes.

But I missed the oven. Never realized how much I used it. I make a lot of baked dishes. Then Fall arrived and the whole family got a little down about the missing oven. Fall for them has always arrived with the scents of baking. So Monday, we called out a repairman and it turned out the expense would be even worse than we thought. Even he thought it would be a bad investment and that the ovens would break down again. Bummed, the hubs and I drove to different stores to price new 30 inch double ovens and OMG, it's been some time since we'd bought ovens. Disheartened, we were in the last store and considering cutting up the kitchen to make room for a stove/big oven combo (Gotta have big for that turkey, ya know?) when my sister sent me a Craigslist ad that had been placed the very day before. For 30 inch double ovens in excellent shape–the owners had to replace with stainless steel in order to sell their home.

I called, the owners were in my town, the ovens were still there and the price was unbelievable. They slid right into place and worked like a charm.

Nothing like a little serendipity to give you a wonderful boost, eh?

So, after hours and hours on this computer working on rewrites, I've spent the last two evenings making up for lost time. Cakes, cookies, casseroles… It feels like Fall in my house again and I've got my soothing hobby back to help me when the frustrations of the writing world get me down.

Guest, Gayle Ann Williams, posts about the journey of Tsunami Blue over at The Deadline Dames. You can win a hard copy of the book by commenting.

I love the cover! You can click on it to buy a Kindle copy, too!