Well…we survived the Ides of March and St. Paddy’s Day. Can we survive March Madness? Whose bracket is completely blown by the upsets? I’m not a big basketball fan so no bracket for me. I was little miffed that OSU wasn’t invited to the big dance while OU was. OU is out, OSU went to the NIT and is still alive. OU women lost in the NCAA but OSU Cowgirls are still in the tourney. So yay for the Cowboys and Cowgirls. Moving on.

Sort of. As long as I’m talking sports, I’ll mention that the St. Louis Cardinals are shaping up as we get closer to opening day. I’d love to have the funds to take the whole family to St. Louis for opening day. I’ll do that when I win the lottery.

Speaking of the lottery, I wish I could win for reasons writing business related. I did a little gritching yesterday when I updated my reading progress. My eyes are giving me some trouble so I’m trying to “read” via audio books more and more. I realize not every book is available in audio, especially those self-pubbed titles by mid-list or lower authors. It ain’t cheap to produce an audio book. They run $200 and up per finished hour. So…if a book runs ten hours, that’s $2,000.00 minimum, and more likely more because $200 is cheap for voice talent. And that money is paid all upfront. ROI (Return On Investment) is low and takes awhile though most authors do make their money back. What I was gritching about was the particular book is by a best-selling author, the rest of the books in the best-selling series are out in audio and were within a week of their release dates. This book has been out a month and a half and no sign of the audio version. And the deal is? I’ve wanted to read this book since the hero was first introduced. I’m reading the ebook from the library. I would have pre-ordered the audio book had it been available. Which made me wonder how many people might want to “read” my self-pubbed books but can’t because they aren’t in audio. Hence, my wanting to win the lottery. My other avenue would be to do some sort of crowd-sourced fundraising and that soooo isn’t me! Anyway…

Reading, and listening, I’ve been doing some. I jumped ahead in Christine Warren’s Others series to a book with lion shifters, WALK ON THE WILD SIDE. I got it from the library and enjoyed it. I also read Jennifer L. Armentrout’s MOONLIGHT SINS, the first book in her new de Vincent series. Contemporary Gothic Romance FTW. Now I’m listening to Eve Langlais’s WHEN AN ALPHA PURRS. We’ll see. And as my eyes allow, I’m reading THE BASTARD’S BARGAIN, which is likely the last book in Katee Roberts’ O’Malley’s series. I just wish I could read faster! Ah well.

Okay, as to my own writing. First reports are coming in on MONTANA MOON. I probably need to tweak a bit at the end but that’s okay. I had thoughts that I might. While waiting on edits to come back, I played around yesterday afternoon with the Nightriders. I opened the main project file and sort of rifled through the “books” that have either chapters or scenes already written to see which one attracted my attention. At the moment, it looks like Gravedigger is going to get his story next. We’ll see if he and Shy, his heroine, continue jabbering at me. I’m also working to finish up the proposal on Cooper’s story, the next Red Dirt book, plus ideas for the books for the rest of the Tate cousins, ending with Hunter’s story. His is a thread that starts in Tucker’s book and runs all the way through. I have ideas for Boone, Bridger and Dillon but final execution will depend.

So, that’s it for me. I’m still fighting the time change and probably will from now until whenever. I still hadn’t adjusted since the fall change so you’d think I’d go back to normal. Nope. Not hardly. Other than that, Mabel, life is pretty darn okay. How’s life in your corner of the world?