Month: March 2017

Daylight Savings Time

This is the Sunday we “sprang ahead” to Daylight Savings Time.

Everyone seems to hate when DST ends in the fall, because it’s darker “earlier”.

Well, no. It’s darker at the same time; we simply look at our clocks differently.

DST is actually the “unnatural” way of measuring our days.

I’ve often wondered if the advice I read about avoiding  the sun between eleven in the morning to one in the afternoon takes DST into account? Isn’t the sun supposed to be directly overhead at noon? Then wouldn’t the sun be hotter, brighter, more dangerous between ten in the morning and noon during DST because the sun would be at its zenith at eleven?

Several studies have found evidence suggesting that Daylight Savings Time is actually bad for our health.  There are more heart attacks, strokes, and road accidents in the days following the spring ahead than there are at other times. And “falling back” triggers depression and earlier onset of Seasonal Affective Disorder in some people.

On the other hand, there is something to be said for the extra sunlight at the end of the Day Job day.

 

National Proofreading Day

Happy National Proofreading Day!

This is a day anyone who writes anything should celebrate.

I really try to turn in as clean drafts as I can to my editors, but sometimes things slip through anyway. Extra eyes are always welcome.

The best method of proofreading for me is reading aloud what I’ve written. That’s when I catch the missing words, the double words, the echoing words, and the (I blush to admit) places I’ve used the wrong version of it/it’s, your/you’re, their/there/they’re, and to/too/two.

Sometimes the brain and fingers are racing so quickly the weirdest things make it onto the page. Sometimes I use a word incorrectly and need to look it up to make sure it means what I need it to mean at that moment in the book. And sometimes I simply make mistakes.

So here’s a big THANK YOU to all the proofreaders out there who are on top of the written word.

 

 

 

 

Mask of the Queen

The third and final novella of my Mask series, featuring baseball player Tag Gentry and caterer Skye Schuyler comes out on Tuesday, 3/7.

Skye Schuyler’s business is failing because of a reporter’s lies, yet telling the truth about baseball player Tag Gentry’s injuries would destroy him. She loves him too much to betray his confidence. But his marriage proposal is only damage control, suggested by his agent, and Skye wants more from a relationship than Tag seems willing to offer.

Tag won’t take no for an answer. It’s bad enough an injury cost him his career, but now he seems to be losing his best friend, too. He can’t figure out why Skye won’t marry him when marriage to him should convince everyone she didn’t betray his secrets to that reporter. Wanting to fight every man who comes into contact with Skye doesn’t mean he’s jealous, despite what his brothers think. He wants to protect her the way she’s been guarding his secret.

But when a vicious attack on Skye’s business also threatens her life, Tag is forced to reevaluate not only his feelings for her, but also his plans for the future. Now all he has to do is convince Skye to unmask her true feelings and join his team…permanently.

On Sale March 7 at Loose-Id

Commuting vs. Productivity

Many authors work a Day Job in addition to writing.

Sometimes I envy people who commute via mass transit because they can read. Or write. But that’s the only thing I do envy (other than not having to drive in a snow storm). I’ve heard of authors who dictate while they’re driving, but I would worry that I would get so caught up in the story I would become a menace on the road.

I feel bad for some of my writer pals who drive long distances every day. After a particularly nasty drive–which is not uncommon this time of year–they are too drained to write.

I tend to have Day Jobs that are less than two miles from my home, so I don’t commute. (I don’t walk or bike either, but I should.) This saves me a lot of time that I use for writing. I can listen to a song or two from my book sound track, depending on how many traffic lights I hit. And if I have a tiffany, I don’t have to fumble for my phone to make a note or  try to remember it until I get home, because home is only moments away.

When I started my current Day Job, my office was located in a suburb. I had a minimum fifteen to twenty minute commute each way every day. I couldn’t dash home for lunch. But I did find a way to rig my car’s cassette player to my mp3 player and listen to RWA workshops, so the commute became educational.

I’ve learned to take advantage of every moment I can.