Writing, Reading, and the Distractions of Summer

Spring seemed quick, we are now into some summer-like temperatures, and it feels wonderful - until it gets too hot.

Yard Work - At one time, not so long ago, I enjoyed mowing and trimming the lawn. The lawn care only took a few hours a week, not much, but now I look at mowing as a chore that has to be done more than something I really like. In that vein, we do have some nice flowers started to show off in the yard, and that I like.

Writing Outside - I am writing churning along at five to seven hundred words a day. Right now I am doing most of my writing sitting outside on our deck. Writing outside can be a bit of a distraction watching birds at the feeder and the squirrels arriving to get their share. Living in a military town I also like to watch the helicopters, C-17s, and 

C-130s, as they circle practicing touch and goes and helicopters practice their version of the bucket brigade, for the fire season in the west.

Book Sales – My KDP pages read are way down, sales of both eBooks and soft cover books are down some but not nearly as much as the pages read has dropped. Not sure why thinks have tumbled so far on the financial side of my writing, I can only speculate.

10 Reasons Book Sales are down – My best guess

1.     People are spending all their free time mowing and trimming their lawns leaving no time to read.

2.     Fishing is picking up

3.     It is the start of picnic time

4.     School is out and adults, along with their kids, decide they will play video games on their phones instead of reading during their summer off.

5.     Too many baseball games to watch and not enough time

6.     Readers are turning to, summer romance on the beach books, instead of what they normally read

7.     Invaders from another galaxy have entered reader’s brains, and have them reading endless political and royal wedding articles online.

8.     Sunstroke

9.     Everyone has decided to reread old books

10.   Summer reruns have started on television and are too captivating to miss.

What Am I Reading? Mountains and Molehills, by Frank Marryat. I am also beta reading a book, far out of my normal genre, for an indie-author, so far it has been a fun read.

Enjoy the rest of the week, and please, keep on reading, even if the yard is calling.

My New Book is Out

My new book is out and much different than all of my others. 

This one tackles my love of gardening along with short murder mysteries.

Beginning Gardening and 4 Cozy, Garden Murder Mysteries

Here is the book blurb 

A book for everyone who gardens or wants to garden. Gardening tips from a Master Gardener who has tried it all, over more than half a century of digging in the soil. With, just for fun, four Garden Murder Mysteries from a Master Story Teller.

All the information needed to start your own gardens, flower beds to do a complete landscape makeover. Tips on everything from fertilizer and seeds to bushes and trees. Raised beds, locating your garden and more. Want to start a garden and not sure what to do? Read it here. Check to see if you are doing it right, it’s all in the book. Tired from all that hard work in the garden?

Relax with four cozy, murder in the garden tales

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Beginning Gardening and 4 Cozy, Garden Murder Mysteries $2.99 eBook or soft cover for $8.99  Click and read the free excerpt.

Well - Looks Like I Survived April

Looks to me like I almost took the month of April off. I made a measly nine blog posts, and although I no longer keep a word count, I suspect it was not high. I do have the proof of my ninth book and will have it up and for sale in a few days. This one – Beginning Gardening and Other Entertaining Lies, has gardening tips, four short stories, all related to gardening and some humor. It is pretty light hearted and only comes in a bit over 100 pages, but it was fun.  Those who have followed me for a while know that I am almost as passionate about gardening as I am about writing and photography.

So what’s next? I am back to work on my nonfiction book, yep the one I have talked about on here before. I am also toying with the idea of a new murder mystery, or I might go back to the one I got stuck on and never completed. Funny, I really liked that story, great location, and a couple of characters I felt were fun, had a murderer, had a body, and just could not come up with a motive – oh well, some day.

Nice to see spring trying to arrive here in Wyoming. Spring seems to make me feel younger and ready to get out and do something. Or maybe its because I am feeling better after a root canal and extraction of a cracked wisdom tooth. Ahh - the Golden Years.

Keep on reading and keep on writing. Good advice for me seems everytime we are out hiking these ol' boys are watching - maybe attempting to tell us something. Yep, better get to work before they catch up with me.