Tuesday’s winner is posted at the bottom of this blog! ~DD
I’m late posting today. Have a headache and I really wished I could have stayed in bed longer. However, I have to play catch up with my goals for the week.
Already out of the way:
* The short story is done and shipped to the editor.
* The synopsis for a new novella was written, shipped and accepted by the editor.
* Yesterday, I completed revisions on the first Viking book and returned it to my editor.
* This morning I finished work on the straight-to-Kindle project and shipped it to someone else to format for Kindle and Smashwords.
When I state everything like that, I think I haven’t done so badly this week, but one glance at my planning spreadsheet reminds me what more has to be done and out the door this week.
What got in the way? Family. My daughter’s a smart girl, but math isn’t one of her talents. I spent the last two days over at her place working through problems with her. Hours working through function points, formulas and graphing lines. Makes my head hurt.
And the pool is cloudy and starting to turn green. That’s what two days of not paying attention to my baby gets me. I so wanted to swim this morning, but the chemicals have to dissipate a bit before I can.
Did I tell you about my encounter with the water moccasin?
I was outside my back door on the phone with the tattoo artist I’m going to see on Sunday in Little Rock at a tattoo convention. Mid-sentence, I glanced down and saw a coil beside my hand. I jerked back. The snake started slithering away.
Now, I like snakes. I don’t have a problem letting them go about their business—unless they are in poisonous and in my yard where they can hurt my family or my dog. This one was an olive-y brown, around 3-feet long, thick-bodied, and with a triangular-shaped head. Water moccasin! Cottonmouth! Whatever you want to call them. This is what they look like:
I couldn’t find my snake stick (it’s just a long supple branch you can use to beat the back of a snake to kill it) so I ran up the stairs to get “Dead-Eye” dad and his shotgun. Without his glasses, and on the first shot, he took off the snake’s head.
Ah! Life in rural Arkansas!
So you want to know who won the signed copy of Darkness Burning, right?
The winner (by random number generator) is…Jennifer Mathis! Jennifer, e-mail me with your snail mail address!
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I’d say you did damn good this week. I’m looking forward to the Viking book. I saw one chapter for critiques and it hooked me.
We have some tiny snakes living under our grass. Go figure, I’m in the city – Philly. I think they must be garden snakes. I only saw them once and I hope to God I don’t see them again. They freak me out.
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Eeeeek!! Snake!! Good shot, “Dead-Eye” Dad!
Happy reading, Jenn!
Wow, Delilah, life is nothing if not exciting!
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Gale! Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed what you saw of Ravished by a Viking!
Garden snakes are cute! And they don’t bite.
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Fedora! Yeah, you’d think life in the boonies would be boring—NOT!
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My husband ran over a 4′ rattlesnake this weekend a country block from our home, here in Central Texas. Being the funny little man he is, he tried to find the wounded serpant to bring home to me. The last rattler my brother killed, they coiled it up and placed it underneath my car, hoping that when I opened my door I would see it and scream. It worked.
My husband said something to this effect: “Honey, I wanted to remind you of that special moment.” He’s such a sweetie.
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Bwahahaha! And you didn’t kill him?
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No, I believe in subtle revenge. I’ll wait for a quiet moment and then surprise him with something sinister. That’s what I did when I told him I was pregnant with our second child. He loved me so much. What can I say, we’re a couple of loose screws.
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My husband let our yard get overgrown and had to hire someone to clean it up. After hearing how many snakes they saw, I said never again.
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I’m a reptile girl, mostly, we have various lizards taking up residence here but when it comes to snakes, well, ick! I don’t know why but they freak me out! Big time.
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I hate snakes!! I would not do well were there were a lot! 🙄 Hope your headache goes away. At least you got some stuff done. Here’s hoping you have time for more. Good luck.
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Eek! I hate snakes, I was caught in a boat with a cotton mouth once. It traumatized my poor 6 year old mind. Well, At least “dead eye” dad was able to save the day. Many Blessings.
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Rachel! Sounds like a match made in heaven!
Andrea! Oh, yeah. I want to see those suckers coming!
Aimee! Pet lizards or just the friendly porch-dwellers?
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Sue! I took one of my back pain pills, from when I pulled a muscle a couple of months back. No pain, no worries.
Jessika! I would have been traumatized too!
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Okay it must have been the week of snakes though mine wasn’t as big and deadly as yours. We had a little Bull snake coiled up next to the front door welcome mat. Not a big deal unless you have 3 kids like me who don’t tend to look where they’re going.
We tried to get the little sucker but he made his way back into the wall of the house. So not what I wanted.
In the end he was trying to escape civilization by way of our neighbor’s yard and was captured then released outside the fence in the back where the open field is.
I’m sure we’ll see him later at some point. Or be as annoyed with our neighbors as we are and decide never to come back.
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Pet lizards, let’s see, there’s Jackie (iguana), Harley, Remy, Drago, Phoenix and Jasmine (bearded dragons), Rexy (frilled dragon), Mushu (water dragon) and Rocky (uromastyx)… they’re an ornery bunch but we love them 🙂
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Brandy! Yeah, snakes in the house aren’t something I want either. I’ve never had that happen, but I have had large tarantulas, wolf spiders and scorpions to keep things exciting. Here in Arkansas, I only have to worry about black widows and brown recluses. And the occasional bird I have to capture. Hint: drop a towel on them to keep them immobilized until you can get your hands gently around them. Since I moved here, I’ve had to rescue three that way.
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Aimee! I’m envious! I love lizards and have always wanted a bearded of my own. You should send me pics to post!
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Brandy and Aimee, bet you’re confused as hell by the name at the bottom of the post. Borrowed my mother’s computer since I’m here to respond, and forgot to change the name! ~DD 😮
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I was wondering about that 😉
You should really get yourself a beardie, they’re the best pet EVER! they have such awesome personalities!! Ironically, I’m at my moms as well (LOL) but when I get back home tomorrow or Sunday, I’ll send you some pics of the babies–they’re an adorable lot!
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Can’t wait to see them, Aimee!