The Variety Pages by Jamie DeBree

Serial Story: Under His Wing, Part 20

jamie@jamiedebree.com (Jamie D.) — Thu, 22 May 2014 17:46:43 GMT

This story is presented weekly in draft (unedited) form. Each installment is available for one week until the next is posted. Miss one? Email me, and I'll hook you up. Enjoy!

Dunning Manor, Book 1

Under His Wing
Part 20

Thomas listened to the women chatter in the front seat as Sarah drove them into town, occasionally answering a question directed at him with as vague a reply as would suffice. The dynamic between the two was obvious - Sarah was the outgoing, take-charge personality while Katie seemed perfectly happy to sit back and let her friend lead the conversation.

Sarah might be their biggest problem. She’d naturally be protective of Katie, and once she realized that Peter was actually the stalker her subconscious had apparently tagged him, she’d be unpredictable. And that would be dangerous for Katie.

They stopped in front of a nondescript house - a white duplex, Thomas noted once he looked closer in the dim moonlight. He got out of the car and opened Katie’s door, noticing a wince of pain on her face as he helped her stand.

“Just my feet,” she said, keeping her voice low. Sarah came around from the other side of the car and Katie pasted a wan smile on her face.

“Thanks for the ride,” she said, giving her friend a quick hug. “We really appreciate it. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

Sarah frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. “He’s staying with you? Isn’t that kind of quick?”

Katie shrugged. “Don’t judge, Sarah. If I remember right, the last guy you brought home from a bar stayed all weekend. What was his name again?”

The other woman rolled her eyes. “Well you don’t have to get mean about it.” She shook her head and went back to the driver’s side. “Sleep well, kiddies.” She fluttered a wave in Katie’s direction and then got in, firing up the engine. Thomas watched her drive away, and then followed Katie up the walk to the door on the right. She bent down and dug around in a flower pot beside the door, coming up with a dull metal key.

“This comes in handy more often than you’d think,” she said, fitting it in the lock. The hair on the back of Thomas’s neck tingled, and he put a hand over hers when she would have pushed the door open.

“Does Peter know about the key?”

She nodded, looking up at him with wide eyes. “You don’t think...”

“Just let me go first. Is there a light switch near the door?”

She nodded. “On the wall to the left.”

He moved in front of her and slowly pushed the door open and turned the light on, glancing quickly around the small entry and then taking two steps in to survey the kitchen and living room just ahead. Both rooms were empty.

Motioning for Katie to follow, he walked into the living room and glanced down a hall to his left. There were three doors in the hall, and he moved forward, feeling the tug of his bond to his ward hold him in place.

“Thomas.”

He turned, adrenaline flowing fast at the sight of Katie’s nemesis at her back, one arm around her waist, the other at her throat. Peter smiled.

“Come any closer, and I break her neck.”

Thomas managed to resist rolling his eyes. Two quick steps forward and he had both of the smaller man’s wrists in his hands. Pulling Peter’s arms away from Katie’s body at the same time, he waited until she ducked underneath and hid behind him to back Peter out the door and onto the front step.

“You will not touch her again. Understand?”

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Serial Story: MacKenzie Saves the World, Episode 3I

jamie@jamiedebree.com (Jamie D.) — Tue, 20 May 2014 22:26:12 GMT

This serial story is presented in draft (unedited) format. Each new installment will replace the one before. If you get behind, email me and I'll hook you up with the missing chapters!

"Fight Water with Fire" - Part 10

By the time MacKenzie got back to her room, she was pretty sure she could swing a shovel hard enough to knock Nurse Amy out cold. Unfortunately, she’d probably fall down afterward, but it was a price she was willing to pay if someone else could dig the hole.

Lucky for the far-too-cheerful nurse, they weren’t near any shovels. Or likely burial spots.
Kevin was waiting in the chair beside her bed and must have noticed Kenzie’s growing impatience with her caretaker. After he helped her into bed, he asked the nurse for water, and then when she got back, asked for a snack. She left quickly after her second trip, probably afraid he’d ask for something else.

“Thank you,” Kenzie said, sitting up and eating her jello-pack. “I swear, people that happy shouldn’t be allowed to mingle with the general population. For their own safety.”

Kevin shrugged. “I’m sure she’s just trying to help. Can you think of a gloomier place to work?”

Kenzie frowned, images of her drowned shop coming to mind. “An underwater comic shop.”

The comment earned an eyeroll from Kevin before he glanced at the clock on the wall.

“I’m going to find your doctor, see when we can break you out of this joint, okay? Hang tight.”

“Because I have so many other options?” she quipped as he headed out the door. The fogginess was abating, but her head hurt like crazy and she wanted to go home, wanted Josh, wanted everything to be just like it was twenty-four hours before.

No, scratch that. She closed her eyes and lay back on the bed, picturing that moment when Josh had kissed her. And then just after when he’d looked into her eyes and declared his intentions...she nearly sighed aloud just remembering.

That moment. That was the moment she wanted to start over at. She would have told Josh she was tired of fighting too. That she wanted to be with him, no matter what. That they’d figure everything out as they went along.

That she loved him, despite all the months they’d spent avoiding each other.

Kevin came back with the doctor and she swiped a tear from her cheek.

“Are you okay?” Kevin frowned, taking her hand. “Is the pain worse?”

She started to shake her head and then stopped. “No. It’s just been a really long day.” She blinked fast, and then looked up at the doctor. “Can I go home now?”

He nodded, consulting his tablet again. “I don’t see anything terribly worrisome on your scans, so yes, I think home would be a much better place for you. Keep it quiet, nothing too stimulating, and don’t think too hard for awhile, and you should be fine, okay?”

He turned to Kevin, eyebrows raised. “You’re going to stay with her for the next twenty-four hours, right?”

Kevin looked away, but squeezed her hand. “I can’t...I’ve already missed a couple appointments today and I have somewhere I really need to be tonight. But I’ll make sure someone’s with her when I can’t be. She won’t be alone.”

“Fair enough.” The doctor held out a hand to shake Kevin’s, and then MacKenzie’s. “Come back in if your symptoms don’t get better in a week or so, okay?”

“Okay.” She waited until he left, and then turned to Kevin.

“Help me get dressed. I want to go see Josh.”

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On Ice Meteors, Green Things & More Migrations...

jamie@jamiedebree.com (Jamie D.) — Mon, 19 May 2014 23:37:57 GMT

Weekly To-Do's

So...it's very nearly past Monday already. What can I say? I was tired (and lazy) last night, and today's been a very busy day. I had to use my brain and everything. I know. Life's not fair sometimes. We do what we can.

Yesterday was actually a pretty good day...very relaxing, even though I kept busy doing some yard/garden design planning, some much-needed houseplant & fish tank TLC, and basic household chores. I did not feel like being tied to my computer screen, so I wasn't. It was quite nice focusing on green things and how to make them grow for nearly a full day.

Then came the ice-meteors (or as our weathermen calls it, large hail). One came right through one of our storm windows, which was a bit shocking since I was standing around 3ft away at the time. It didn't make it all the way into the house. Which is good in that the storm window will be easier to replace, yet missing that "OMG a hailstone broke the whole window" factor. I know. I'm sick. You'd know that too if you read my books. I'm pretty sure the roof is going to need replacing though, which isn't actually a bad thing since insurance will pay. And I gotta say, even with all the destruction (bye-bye, patio furniture cushions and what was left of the greenhouse), it was a pretty cool storm to watch.

Lucy-dog does not agree, and hopes it never happens again, poor thing. She's lucky we rarely get the big stuff here...our hail is more likely to be pea-sized or less in a normal year. I do feel bad for any animals that happened to be out on the plains with no shelter. Painful, at the very least.

In any case, the trees I ordered last fall for the back yard came in this weekend - a Catalpa tree and an Eastern Redbud - and they sent us a free Red Maple too. So before the hail I was outside happily planning where to plant them, and I'm really excited to get them in the ground and growing. We cut down all our trees a couple years ago to put in the fence, and I really miss them. Hopefully these will grow fast!

Last week's blog migration went well...much easier than the first, but someone informed me today that the comments don't work. Dang it. So I'll be fixing that tonight. Once I get that fixed I'm going to start getting things ready to migrate my second pen name's blog on Wednesday, and then the whole kit & kaboodle that is JamieDeBree.com (including this blog and my neglected but not forgotten Drafting Desk) this coming weekend.

Alex's blog will be down for a little while late Tuesday night, and then back up again Weds, with full functionality by Thursday. The Variety Pages (this blog) and my other sites will be down for a little while starting Friday night, and I'll be spending my Saturday rebuilding and getting them set back up, so just assume they'll be down for much of Saturday too.

To that end, this week's normal Friday installment of Under His Wing will be posted Thursday instead of Friday, to give readers time to...well...read it, before I take the sites offline Friday night.

You won't need to change your bookmarks...the addresses will stay the same. And I will be moving blog subscriptions over, so don't worry about that either. All in all, it should be pretty uneventful, and by the end of next weekend I should be done with all the site moving drama and back to a more normal schedule in the evenings (thank goodness).

And that's pretty much all the news I have for the week...so...away we go!

Talkin' Books: May 14, 2014

jamie@jamiedebree.com (Jamie D.) — Wed, 14 May 2014 16:56:38 GMT

Books Finished:

Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis

Books In Progress:

Tatterdemon by Steve Vernon

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Short Fiction:

Once Upon An Heirloom by Kait Nolan

Comic Books:

Harley Quinn #5

Batman Eternal #1 & #2

Getting back in the reading groove, finally...I am about a quarter of an inch away from finishing Neverwhere. Good stuff, that book - it's like pasta, a "stick-to-your-brain" kind of meal, though I'm not entirely sure Gaiman would appreciate that particular simile. Still, it fits. I honestly can put that book down for days and when I pick it back up, it's like I never left. I think I notice it because it's so very rare that I read anything that sticks with me like that. In any case, if you get a chance, I highly recommend it. I should be finished with it by next week, I'd think.

Obviously I took a detour to read another Jill Shalvis romance, mostly because I had a couple of very stressful weeks and I needed a good laugh (her books are *hilarious*, seriously!). Instant Attraction was fabulous and dealt with some fairly serious issues while still being completely entertaining. Another highly recommended read, IMO.

I'm enjoying Kait Nolan's Meet Cute romances too - they're short, so I can start one at lunch one day, and finish it at lunch the next. Perfect for when I need a quick feel-good pick-me-up, and also the satisfaction of actually finishing something fairly quickly. Once Upon An Heirloom was a very sweet little snack romance. Another I'd recommend for romance readers.

Harley Quinn #5 is just fun, as all the Harley comic books are. The artwork is phenomenal, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm waiting rather impatiently for the next one to continue the story. And I finally got started on Batman Eternal with issues #1 & #2, and yeah. These guys aren't playing around...it's right into the action and a whole heap of serious bad stuff happening. I have #3 & #4 too...that's part of tonight's reading line-up!

Good reading week, and I'm finally getting some balance back in my world, so I expect that'll continue this week. I'm so far behind on my print reading the books are seriously stacking up on my nightstand, so better pick up the pace!

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Serial Story: MacKenzie Saves the World, Episode 3H

jamie@jamiedebree.com (Jamie D.) — Tue, 13 May 2014 17:54:24 GMT

This serial story is presented in draft (unedited) format. Each new installment will replace the one before. If you get behind, email me and I'll hook you up with the missing chapters!

"Fight Water with Fire" - Part 9

MacKenzie was relieved when Kevin finally came back into the tiny room they’d put her in, and she thought the doctor looked relieved as well. Coming to her side, Kevin slid his hand around hers.

“Josh knows your here. He’ll be down as soon as he can.” He looked up at the doctor. “So what’s the verdict?”

The doctor glanced down at a tablet screen briefly, more out of habit than anything else, MacKenzie thought.

“Well, we’d like to do a CT scan just to make sure there’s no permanent damage. As long as that comes back okay, I think we can send her home, but someone will need to stay with her for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours with the confusion and nausea she’s dealing with. I’ve got a scan set up in half an hour for her, so a nurse will be here shortly to take her down.”

Kevin nodded. “Thank you. How long until the confusion goes away? She seems pretty out of it.”

MacKenzie shifted, uncomfortable with the two men discussing her like she was a child, but trying to think just made her head hurt worse, so she laid there quietly, grateful Kevin was there to help.

The doctor shrugged. “It really depends on her. Every person and every concussion is different, so we just have to wait and see, unfortunately. It could be hours or days or sometimes even weeks, depending on the damage. We’ll know more after the scan. I’ll be back to check on her when I get the results.”

Kevin nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”

The doctor left and MacKenzie closed her eyes, only to open them again when Kevin gently shook her shoulder.

“Hey,” he said, lightly tapping her cheek. “Stay with me here. Can you talk?”

She tried to roll her eyes, though even the effort hurt enough to make her wince.

“I have a concussion,” she said. “I can talk, it just...hurts. Everything pretty much hurts right now.”

“Maybe I can help.”

She looked past Kevin to where Josh was standing at the foot of her bed and smiled, though it quickly faded as she remembered why he was here in the first place.

“How’s your dad? What happened?”

Kevin pulled back, heading for the door to make room for Josh.

“I’m just going to grab a cup of coffee,” he said. “I’ll be back later, K?”

MacKenzie nodded. “Thanks Kevin. For everything.” He shut the door behind him and Josh moved closer, taking her hand in his.

“Is your dad okay?” she repeated. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you...”

Josh shook his head, smoothing his free hand across her brow. “It’s okay. Dad’s in surgery right now - he had a heart attack and they had to open him up. Andrea’s with my mom, and she’ll call with any news.” He frowned, looking her over. “How did you hit your head? How are you feeling?”

She laughed, then winced. “I was looking for you and slipped on our wet floors, damn it. And I feel like I’m in a painful fog. It hurts to think, or move my head, or...anything, really. I think Kevin said something about a scan they want to do...it was hard for me to follow what the doctor said.”

Josh nodded, caressing her face again. “They probably just need to make sure that brain of yours isn’t bruised.”

A nurse bustled in and MacKenzie glanced at her, then quickly away from the brightly patterned print of her scrub top.
“Hello, hello!” she said, her sing-song voice sending rickets of pain through MacKenzie’s head. “I’m Amy. Ready for your CT scan?”

She looked at Josh, grateful for the sympathy in his somewhat amused eyes.

“I think she’s ready, but can I go with her?” he asked as the nurse took her pulse and blood pressure, logging her notes into a console to the side.

“Certainly!” Amy got a couple blankets from a cupboard and held them out to Josh. “There’s a wheelchair right outside the door. Why don’t you put one of these on the seat, and we’ll cover her up with the other. I’ll help her out of bed.”

MacKenzie leaned on her too-bright nurse and managed to walk to the wheelchair and settle in just as Josh’s phone rang. She watched him answer, saw his face go white. Wished she could do something, anything to make it better.

“It’s my father,” he said, giving her an apologetic look. “I have to go, I’m sorry. I’ll check in as soon as I can, okay?”

She nodded, the motion hurting less than it had before, which she took as a good sign.

“Go. I’ll see you later.”

Amy the nurse shook her head as they watched Josh jog away. “Men. You never can count on them to be there when you need ‘em.” She started pushing MacKenzie in the opposite direction, and Kenzie considered arguing, but decided it would be too much work, and remained silent as Amy chattered above her all the way to radiology.

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On Palmtops, Mint.com & Spring Things...

jamie@jamiedebree.com (Jamie D.) — Mon, 12 May 2014 16:11:36 GMT

Weekly To-Do List

Last week was...well, still not all that great, though I did manage to be fairly productive, especially toward the end. Keeping a smaller list helped, and I managed to get most of it done, so this week's is smaller as well. The weather wasn't nice enough to work outside, but I did get the BSB catalog finished (for the most part), so I'm calling that site done for now and moving on to one of my pen name sites for migration this week. It's a much more simple site, so it should go much faster - especially now that I more or less know what I'm doing. Helpful thing, experience...

One exciting thing happened last week (well, several actually, but the other two involve getting money, not spending it): I got a new-to-me Galaxy Note 3 smart phone to replace my Note 8 tablet. I have my MiFi sim card in the Note 3, so I have data pretty much anywhere now (so cool!), and I can use Skype or other online services for calls/messaging. The important thing though is that it's smaller than the Note 8 - just 5.7 inches, which is a much handier size for shopping lists and taking photos out and about. It also has a better camera, and a flash. While I freely admit that the tablet is better for things like surfing, the Note 3 handles it well enough, and the pros of going smaller outweigh the cons for me. Plus my Note 8 isn't going anywhere...I gave it to hubby to use for gaming/surfing, but I can always borrow it back if I need to.

It's interesting to look back on the devices I've used since palmtop/ultra-portable computing started to get popular. One of these days I'll post a picture...kind of fun to see not just how things have changed, but also how different devices dictated how I've organized my life.

One of the other things I didn't finish, but at least got started last week was to get the information about my financial accounts in order and start organizing an actual budget. I did a bunch of research and reading, and the most popular financial manager out there seems to be Mint.com, so I went ahead and signed up for an account. It's basically an aggregator - you can't actually move your money or pay bills or anything like that through it (I'd be really worried if you could), but it basically just pulls in data from your bank accounts so everything is in one place, and then analyzes your spending and debt to income ratio and suggests plans for how to get or keep that going in the right direction.

I'm not absolutely sure it will work for what I want it to yet (organizing my bills according to my paychecks and reminding me to make the payments on time), but it seems pretty handy so far, so I'll play around with it more this week. I may still go back to just a plain old spreadsheet, but gotta at least try the gadgety-option first, right?

As for this week - lots to do, as usual. Since the BSB site migration is done, I'm moving on to one of my pen name sites this week, and I'll start that process tonight. I'll be working on that every night this week in hopes of having it done by Thursday in time for the Friday serial post there. Next Saturday is going to be busy busy with our local Geranium Festival in the morning and a birthday party for one of hubby's friends that night. I'm really looking forward to the Geranium Fest, as long as it doesn't rain. Always fun to spend the morning buying flowers and going through the zoo. I know it's finally spring once we can start planting out flowers, and I have two baby trees coming for the backyard too that I'm pretty excited about. Hooray for green and growing things!

Hopefully the rough streak I've been having (and a lot of others too, it seems) will finally break this week and we can all get things done and have enough time left over to enjoy life. I plan on making time this week, no matter what happens...knitting, playing outside (weather permitting) and the occasional digital jigsaw puzzle, at the very least.

On Learning, Project Management & Being Realistic...

jamie@jamiedebree.com (Jamie D.) — Mon, 05 May 2014 07:15:00 GMT

Weekly To-Do List

Last week was...well...either a colossal waste of time, or a huge learning curve (we'll just go with learning curve, shall we? It's less depressing.). I spent a lot of time (read: pretty much every night last week) rebuilding BrazenSnakeBooks.com under a "temporary" internet address only to find out that when I finally repointed the "real" address to the new site, it was nearly impossible to find every place in the code where the address had to be changed. And after spending several hours this weekend trying to find and replace said instances, I finally gave up, blew the whole thing away and started over (I did save my stylesheet changes...which helped a lot).

I may have been a little overtired and cranky at that point. I had other things and projects I'd committed to this weekend, and I really didn't have the time or inclination to spend hours rebuilding a web site I'd just spent an entire week building. So once I got the thing running again at a very basic "hello world" level, I walked away. I bought comics, and lunch, and crocheted for more hours than I care to admit (one of the other commitments I had), and cleaned house, and visited with a friend, and completely forgot about a serial scene due Friday that I never did get back to...

And then Sunday night, after everything had finally calmed down a bit (including my brain), I went in and started rebuilding page by page, plugin by plugin. It didn't actually take me very long, largely because of the stylesheet I'd saved, and also because I (sort of) knew what I was doing by that time. I still have to build the book catalog, but everything else is pretty well done and running again, including the Snake Bites blog.

Needless to say, I have a lot better understanding of what I'll need to do with the other sites now, including scheduling some downtime for each move and a little prep work on templates ahead of time. So one of the main things on my list this week is project management - breaking down each site move into task lists, and then scheduling them out for the next month and a half or so. The goal being, of course, to get them moved with a lot less stress and wasted time than I spent on the first one. I use Trello for breaking down and organizing projects - it's a great tool and does that one job really well.

If you looked at my to-do list this week, you may have noticed that there are only two tasks under each category, and one "getting organized" task to span them all. This week, I'm just going to focus on the most important things I need to get done, and if there's any time left over, I can do other things. I'm trying to be more realistic about what I *can* do, rather than what I *want* to do. Hopefully that will result in things being crossed off with less stress all around. We'll see.

Now it's nearly 2am, I have laundry wrinkling in the dryer (and it's going to stay there until morning too), and I'm falling asleep at the keyboard, so time for bed. Here's to a productive-yet-still-semi-sane week, if at all possible...and a lot of good writing too.

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Talkin' Books: April 30, 2014

jamie@jamiedebree.com (Jamie D.) — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 16:25:17 GMT

Books Finished:

None

Books In Progress:

Tatterdemon by Steve Vernon

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Short Fiction:

None

Comic Books:

None

Yeah. So. Kinda got sidetracked by the whole "must pick up and move your blogs" thing this weekend...among other things. I managed to pick up my new comic books this weekend, but haven't managed to actually read any of them yet, which is a shame.

But! This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day - you know what that is, right? It's the day when you can walk into your local comic shop (here in the states, at least) and pick up a ton of free comic books! So...go here to find your local participating comic book store, and grab yourself some free books on Saturday. I will, of course, be visiting my local shop as well. You won't be sorry!

The only real reading I've done this week is actually from a sample of a book on my Kindle that I'm pretty sure I'll buy when I get to the end of the sample. I'm not completely immune to trends, especially when it involves entertainment (books, TV, movies, music). And everyone keeps talking about this Game of Thrones TV series (we don't have cable, so haven't seen it, personally). My husband has no interest in watching, and I really didn't either, but I came across The Game of Thrones (Book 1 in the series) the other week on Amazon, noted that it was $4.99 for the Kindle copy, so I thought maybe I'd download a sample and at least see what the premise of the story was. Fantasy is often a really hard sell for me (lots of descriptive world-building bores the heck out of me), so I wasn't expecting much.

I have to say though....I'm kind of hooked. I read a *lot* (not that you could tell from the past couple of months, but hey, it's been busy), and I freely admit that I don't remember a lot of what I've read. I enjoy the story while I'm reading, but it's rare that I think about it much after it's over, or even between the time I put it down and pick it back up. But as with the Gaiman book (which I never seem to forget, even when I'm away from it for days at a time), this little sample still has me thinking about the direwolf pups, the beheading of the "rogue" (but was he, really?), and the family dynamics that have been laid out in less than a single chapter. A writer friend was maligning Martin's writing style on FB the other day, but I have to say...I like it. Unlike so many other fantasy authors, Martin stays out of the reader's way, and gives plenty of description while keeping the story flowing at an easy pace.

Although I guess I can't say it'll stay that way, as I've only read a prologue and nearly another chapter, but so far, I'm enjoying it.

Which scares me, because while I can't see how big the books are on my Kindle, I've heard they're doorstoppers, and there are a lot of them at that. Do I really want to commit? I'm not sure yet, which is why I'm still working on the sample, and haven't actually bought the book yet. Decisions, decisions...

In any case, that's my week in reading. With the web site/blog migrations looming, my reading time will be hit & miss for the next month or so, but thankfully my lunch hours are still largely open for delving into fiction for a bit. Really, I need to force myself to set everything aside at night and go read...it would be better for my overall attitude & disposition (though perhaps not my awareness the next day...).

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On Curve Balls, Virtual Moves & Planning Ahead...

jamie@jamiedebree.com (Jamie D.) — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 07:32:38 GMT

Weekly To-Do List

You know, you'd think I'd be used to the curve balls life lobs our way when we get to a certain level of comfort in our lives, but somehow, I'm still taken by surprise far too often. I can't decide whether it's because I'm just that naive, or if it's because I'm not nearly as cynical as I think I am, but it doesn't really matter, I guess. Life would be a bit boring if it were always easy, but sometimes I feel like a freak when things that are easy for other people turn out not to be for me. Which is actually more things than I care to admit, honestly.

Like my new gadget, for instance. The MiFi modem I was so happy about last week? Yeah. It gives me headaches. Not the wifi signal - I pretty much marinate in those all day, every day, but the cell signal. A smart co-worker told me it's because I can "hear" the noise from that particular signal, and my brain doesn't like it (or doesn't know what to do with it, one of the two). Part of it could be a malfunction in the device itself (my co-worker could actually hear it too, thank goodness)...being around cell phones don't normally bug me, so I need to see about getting a different mifi device to transfer my sim card to. My ultimate plan is to get a used smartphone (I want a Galaxy Note 3, but would settle for a Note 2), and put my data sim card in that...with Verizon, that's perfectly fine, and would give me a smartphone with just a data plan, which is exactly what I want. But I can't afford that just yet, and I spent my weekend dealing with another curve ball that hit last week, so hopefully this week I'll have some time to shop for a new MiFi device. Meanwhile, I'll try putting it in a closed drawer at work and see if that helps.

The other curve ball that hit late last week was finding a refund from my web host in my bank account for nearly the whole year's worth of blog hosting fees. After fishing an email from them out of my spam filter, I discovered they are discontinuing the blog service I use, so I have to move all of my blogs (yes, including this one) elsewhere by the end of June. Granted, I'd been considering moving anyways (slow load times and other nits had me pretty frustrated earlier this year), but it would seem the decision's been made for me. At least they refunded my fees, so I had money to find a new host with.

In any case, it took me awhile and a good deal of research to choose a new web host, but I finally did, and I'm optimistic that this change will be a good one all around - eventually. The bad part is having to actually move all of my sites. Because I've been using host-automated blog templates and site builders, I have to completely rebuild my sites from scratch on the new host. This will be a good thing too, once all the work is done. Better blog performance for one, and an easier comment system to manage (ie, no more captcha!). It's just going to be...a lot of work to get everything moved and running on the new host.

I'm going to get the Brazen Snake Books site and blog done first, so this blog won't be moving for a couple weeks yet. I'll let you know all the details when I'm ready to make the switch, but here are a few things that I have decided with regards to this particular blog and a couple of others that are happening immediately:

- I'll be integrating the Comic Shop Romance serial story blog into this one, as of this week. So instead of going to a separate blog, you can read MacKenzie's story right here every Tuesday, starting this week.

- The Drafting Desk will be split up and instead of daily updates for all of my drafts, I'll post weekly stats and writer's notes on my drafting progress to each of my author blogs. This will go into effect immediately, and you'll find Writer's Notes posts on each of my author blogs (including this one) as of Saturday, May 3rd.

- I was going to wait until the current serials are done, but in light of the move and post importing/exporting, I've decided that all serial story installments will only be available for one week as of this week. When a new installment goes up, the previous one will come down. If you miss an installment, you can always email me to get a copy, easy-peasy.

I'll have more details later, but those are the big changes happening now. I'll do my best to make the moves as smooth as possible, and we'll have spiffy new sites to play with all around in the next month or two. Fun, eh?

Now it's off to bed for me. It's going to be a very busy month!

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Talkin' Books: April 23, 2014

jamie@jamiedebree.com (Jamie D.) — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 17:00:43 GMT

Books Finished:

Rescue Me (TREX) by Allie K. Adams

Books In Progress:

Tatterdemon by Steve Vernon

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Short Fiction:

Once Upon a New Year's Eve by Kait Nolan

Comic Books:

Sandman Overture #2

Superior Spider-man #30 / Black Widow #1

Still slow on the reading front, unfortunately, but I've been busy with...well, lots of things lately, and I'll freely admit that the books I'm working on are good, but they just aren't the kind of "page turners" that make me want to get back to them as fast as possible. So I get to them when I get to them, or when I have a few minutes at lunch, etc.

Rescue Me is a good solid romantic suspense. It didn't really pull me in all that tightly, but it was good as far as entertainment goes. I actually felt it was a little longer than it needed to be - tightening up the action and picking up the pace would have kept me reading faster, but that's just personal preference.

I got a few more chapters read in Neverwhere, and I'm hoping to finish it this weekend. I love the henchmen, but honestly, I'm not terribly invested in the main characters, and I think that's why I've got sort of a take it or leave it approach going on with it. I'll admit, the Rollins adventure that's waiting for me to finish this has a stronger appeal to me, but I do want to finish Neverwhere to see how the story ends.

Haven't gotten back to Tatterdemon yet...I will, eventually.

As a quick little side-trip after finishing Rescue Me, I read Once Upon A New Year's Eve by Kait Nolan. It's a cute, quick little story easily read in a half-hour or so, perfect for waiting at the salon or something. I enjoyed it, and it's a good way to sample Kait's work (I enjoyed her first paranormal romance too).

And look! I made time for comic books this week! I made sure to be coherant while reading the second issue of Sandman Overture, and it made a lot more sense than the first. Actually, this one was quite interesting, what with a lot of personality fragmentation going on. And of course the artwork is pretty amazing, so I'll look forward to picking up the next issue as well.

Superior Spiderman...hmm. I'm not really sure how I feel about this one, because Ock's personality just changed on a dime, and it really just seemed rather sudden and out of character. I don't want to spoil it for anyone (though I get them late, so odds are if you were going to read it, you probably have), but I guess I could even say I was a little disappointed. I don't know. We'll see how the next one goes with Parker back in charge as to whether I'll continue on with the new Amazing Spider-man series or not. I may need a little grieving time for the whole anti-hero storyline...

Black Widow #1 was included in the SS #30 issue, so I read that too. I'm not fond of the art style for that one...kind of an impressionistic watercolor "thing", but I enjoyed the story itself, and the characterization. Might pick up the second one just to see how it goes.

This Saturday I've got a trip to the comic book store planned, because my Batman Eternal comics should be in up to #3. Yay! I think there's a new Harley Quinn out too. Double Yay! Should be a good reading week if I can get caught up on my other "chores"...

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