Hello? Is there an echo in here?

I can’t believe the date on my last post. My sincere apologies for not updating this blog more regularly. I won’t make excuses but I will say that I have been working a crazy nighttime shift until just last week. A 2 a.m. wake up call really does some ridiculous things to your life. For those who follow me on other social media, you know I’m talking about the recent refueling outage at the nuclear plant. What an amazing experience that was despite the hours. Few people in the world ever get to go on the refueling floor during an outage and I was one of the privileged. It was fascinating, intimidating and impressive all wrapped into one. To see the blue glow of the new fuel cells and get it on film was something I’ll never forget. Then I went back up there a couple weeks later when the reactor vessel was resealed under about 80 feet of lead and concrete, and stood on top of the spot that had been open and glowing with energy. That was a little unnerving but totally safe.

So, that’s done and I have adjusted to daytime hours again. Except for the traffic and radio chatter. The commute was a lot more pleasant at 3 a.m.

What am I doing with my books? I have signed with Booktrope. My short story Cream on the Crop is in the early stages of production. What does that mean? I am doing a final edit before I submit it to my editor. I’ve got a book marketing manager and cover artist on the project. Although this story was previously published, it was buried in an anthology that never did well. I’m really stoked to give it to you as a stand-alone title that I know you’ll enjoy. A few things about Cream on the Crop – well the title is wonderfully naughty, isn’t it? For a BDSM romance that takes place on a horse farm…I love it, don’t you? This also has some other cool elements – it’s bi-racial – gotta spread the love! It’s also a ghost story with political overtones. Lots packed into 20,000 words but you’ll enjoy them all.

As you can imagine, work like this detracts from creating new work. I have to admit that I am terribly frustrated about my progress in getting words written. My fiction writing career has changed so dramatically since I began working at the nuclear plant. It can’t be helped and I’m trying to find some reasonable balance between my job, my family, and fiction writing. The days of writing 5 books a year are in the rear view mirror for me now. Anyway, I’m trying to manage the business of books and write. That’s all I can say.

I had to force myself to come in from the garden early this morning. The sun hasn’t been out much this summer and you can almost hear everything growing once it does. I have a pair of bluebirds nesting in one of my garden birdhouses and they were not too happy about having the human out there watering.

I hope you’re planning some fun this summer.We are going fishing for a few days on Lake Michigan. I’m really looking forward to that! I love to fish and the king salmon should be running. I’ve also never been to Door County and it’s supposed to be beautiful. We plan to bum around Sturgeon Bay and see some of the lighthouses and orchards.

In September, I’m going to visit my friend who lives in Orlando. She used to work at the plant and having her leave has been hard for me. She’s moved onto a spectacular opportunity. I was flattered by an invitation to join her, but my family doesn’t want to move. So, I’ll look forward to a long weekend together and that will likely be the extent of my vacation plans until the holidays.

I’ll try to do a better job at blogging at Romance with SASS. Thanks for being a friend and a fan. I can’t wait to show off the cover for Cream on the Crop. I know it’s going to be all kinds of provocative naughty!

Best,

Margie

If you’re looking for a great book, please visit my Amazon page to discover what I have available right now. Three more books are in progress and should be out later this year.