It’s October! Where’s Autumn?!?! The weather guru’s promise cool temps coming mid-week. I’m not holding my breath but boy howdy am I ready! My perfect temp would be 68 year round, but that’s just me. And no, I have no plans to ever move to a place where that’s a possibility. One, I don’t think thre is such a locale and two, despite all my gritching, I do enjoy the changing seasons. I’d just be happier if they happened on time.

So anyway, I’ve given up on any help from FB when it comes to photos featured on the blog. If you see two versions (depending on the pic), it’ll mean FB did it again and I will have deleted the cross-post with the wrong pic and upload the URL and pick manually. If I have to do that, I’ll go back to posting manually, and uploading the featured pic directly to my FB author page. Grrr. Sadly, instead of being automatically shared at 6 a.m. when I schedule the blog posts to hit on the website, posts will appear whenever I get to my computer and do it. So much for “automation” and AI. No dig at WordPress, which is my host and platform. Not their fault. I’ve heard that I’m not the only one this happens to on FB.

In other news, last week was busy. Jake got a bath–always a fun time. 🙄 I spent all day Wednesday updating all my self-pubbed to meet the ‘Zon’s new AI disclaimer. FYI, I don’t use AI at all. Not to write my books, edit my books (unless you consider spellcheck to be AI), nor do I use it for the covers. I have an amazing artist who puts my covers together. During this process, I discovered that I never got around to formatting four of the books for print, to match the other books in the particular series where they belong. That’s now on my list. It’s probably easy for most but I’m old and tech is not my first comfort zone. It takes me awhile to remember what goes where and how to set that up and set the parameters. It’d be cool if I was a best-selling author so I could just pay someone. That’s not the case. This is very much a one-woman shop, with the occasional contract assistance from my cover artist. I’ll get around to getting those four in print once I get the Irish Wolves corraled and in the wild.

Speaking of the Irish Wolves, last week and this past weekend were productive, despite distractions from Real Life. It’s such a relief to get lots of words moving from my imagination to the monitor. This story is really taking shape and falling into place. The hard part is giving everyone equal “screen time.” Yes, this book has a large cast of characters. When the plot was originally conceived, I was toying with the idea of publishing it as part of the Kindle Vella serial program. Then I started writing it. And the time lines of each couple overlapped and were all tied up in the overall plot so…there ya go. At this point, it’ll 100K. Trust me when I say there is a LOT going on in this book. And it’s fun. Fun to write and fun to read. At least for me.

In sports news, yesterday’s soccer got cancelled due to a conflict in scheduling. That worked out. See above about 90+ weather (game was schedule for like 2 p.m.) With no came, Stormy got to go to a birthday party and the Kids got to see the matinee of a Broadway musical–road company. I got to watch the retirement ceremony for Adam Wainwright, pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and all-around really good guy. Yes, I had a tissue handy during the speeches and the gift giving. He played 19 years for the Cards and should be a MLB Hall of Famer when he becomes eligible. He’s obviously a shoo-in for the Cardinals’ Hall of Fame. My Cowboys had a bye week. I hope they get their act together for Friday night’s game.

In reading, I finished the new release in JD Robb’s  Eve Dallas/In Death series, PAYBACK IN DEATH. It was a good listen but I was sort of scratching my head at the end as the conclusion seemed a little pat. Still, lots of Roarke time which made up for his lack of “screen time” in the last book. I can’t believe there are 57 books in the series, and a new one coming out in either January or February. I don’t remember which and I’m too lazy to go look. I’m currently delving into Jayne Anne Krentz/Jayne Castle/Amanda Quick’s multi-pen-name interelated series, the Arcane Society. She just re-released the Amanda Quick book SECOND SIGHT in audio. The first chronological-by-plot/time period book in the series, it’s set in Victorian England. It introduces the Jones family and other families in the Arcane Society. Lots of psychic paranormal fun and while I’ve stayed up with Arcane through her Harmony SciFiRom series. It’s been years since I did the historicals and contempories. Something a little different to listen to as I make my Wallyworld run this morning then come home. I’ll switch to the Celtic music when I settle in with my Boston peeps and write.

That’s pretty much the wrap-up for me. What about y’all? Oh! Interesting story in the news. Some linguist claims that authentic southern accents are fading way. Dude, seriously? You need to come spend time in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina. Anyway, y’all have a good week and thanks for comin’ around to check in here and say howdy!