A Witchy Diary

I don't think I did one of these last year...

( More fic stats )

I've been pretty down lately, but I'm also trying to keep myself busy.

The job searching continues. I haven't had much luck with it. Mostly I deal with recruiters who never get back to me, or I get rejection emails from places I've applied. I just have to keep applying, and I am. I'm devoting a lot of my free time to just job searching. I'm also signed up for a couple of courses to enrich my skills. I just need the time to work on everything.

Being a stay at home mom does not help. Juliet is joined at my hip, needs a lot of attention, and when she's home I'm unable to get anything I want to do done. I though I could save money by taking her out of daycare, but truth be told, I had to put her back in, at least a couple days a week. I told Joe I'd find the money somewhere, even I have to sell crap on Facebook or Poshmark or do odd jobs somewhere. The days she is at daycare is so worth it for my mental health, and now I'm also trying to have her daycare days coincide when Joe has to go into the office, so then I have a day home by myself to work on my things uninterrupted. 

The other hurdle is sleeping. I haven't been sleeping well and it's affecting my mental health as well. I sleep during times when I could be doing something productive and I toss and turn at night or stay up reading manga and feeling sluggish the next day. So I need to get my sleep back on track, and I need to get my workouts back on track too. I've been really avoiding exercising lately. Thankfully, I haven't gained any weight. But still, I know if I was working out more my weight would go down so I'm upset by that. Honestly, I really wish I could start taking power walks or running again like I used to. It really helped me with my anxiety and depression and helped me feel like I was "running away" from it all, just a little bit. With Juliet, who screams and freaks out if I leave even for an hour, it puts tremendous pressure on me and I rather just not deal with it. Still, I might have to do it...

Otherwise, mostly I clean, cook, take care of the kid and dog and husband, try to pay bills, job search, do some writing, reading and try to get some sleep. We had to unclog pipe in the basement where our A/C runs off. That was a nice bill from the plumber. It was leaking on our carpet. So that sucks. We really don't have money for this kind of stuff.

Recently I had to write something for unconventionalcourtship and it ended up being like 15K words of Modern-AU Reylo. I am happy how it turned out, but it also drained me because I was hauling ass trying to make the deadline. Next I have to work on wipbigbang, which is due in a couple weeks. After that I'm going to work on some short stuff, or look into contests or any other freelancing stuff. I have freelancing requests in the queue so I'm definitely tackling those next.

Tomorrow Joe goes into work and Juliet has daycare, so I have a day to myself, which means job searching, follow ups, and possibly continuing my online courses. So the rest of today I plan on taking it easy, hoping to get a decent amount of sleep so tomorrow I'm refreshed enough to work on some things.

Otherwise, I'm reading a lot of manga, mostly online. I really enjoy Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet  (May/December relationship between a writer and a poor HS student) and I was all ready to buy the English version and there isn't one, so all they have is scanlations. I've gone back and read it a couple times. Other manga I've enjoyed is Black Bird, L-DK, Blue Sky Complex, and Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasi. 

I hope everyone is doing well and trudging through this year okay. I just really wish something good would happen. I really would feel a lot better if I got a new job and was able to feel more secure about the future.

Take care. 

 

Team	Meta	Undercover	Vampires/werewolves/zombies	Sexuality & gender
Light	Regeneration	Transformation	Work	Crime & punishment
Time War	Gods & demons	WILD CARD	Humour	Angst
Shape/Shape shifters	Epistolary	Heaven/Hell	Runaways	Layers/Textures
Tentacles	Injury/illness	Introspection	Supernatural	Hurt/comfort

Spirits Abound: Ghostly Little Tales anthology is currently free on Amazon! Please download an ebook version for FREE! The promotion runs through Monday.

We are also desperate for reviews, so anything you can give us on Amazon and Goodreads is greatly appreciated!




Title: Spirits Abound: Ghostly Little Tales

Authors: K.A. Crittenden, H.K. Rowe, Tiffany Piel, Roxanne Solangi

Links: Amazon | Goodreads

Summary:

In The Hitchhiker...Out of luck and out of battery, Madeleine Cooper is too prideful to go back to campus to call for a ride after she misses the last bus out of town. Determined to walk the full distance back to her current home just south of Seaside, Oregon from Astoria, one thing after another goes wrong and she's forced to try thumbing for a ride on a secluded coastal road. Little does Madeleine know that her savior is more than they appear on this dark and stormy night.

In The Ties That Bind... She's drawn to certain places and certain things, and they never fail to lead her somewhere interesting. It's a long drive through a clear night, and there's something waiting at the end, in the dark, biding it's time. It has a story to tell.

In Deathly Ever After... Three young high school girls live out the last day of their torture and murder over and over again. Lanie starts to realize that they have been caught in this nightmare, and she wonders if there's any way she can break free and save her friends.

In Whispers... After two life-altering tragedies, Katie finds herself alone. She returns to her childhood home to make a new start. But she has some unexpected and mysterious intrusions into her life awaiting her.

Available in: ebook and paperback

Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Suspense, Short Stories

This weekend sucked a goat's ass.

Not only did Rapey McPerjury get confirmed to the Supreme Court because why not, fuck us, but I also had shit just go wrong this weekend.

But last night before bed I noticed that my clothes were wet in the closet. WHY? Because our roof is leaking. Because we knew that we had roof damage, had a roofing contractor that dicked us around for two months, and now after firing them and trying to find someone new, we get this downpour rainstorm that soaked right through the roof into my bedroom closet. So last night I got no to little sleep because I was removing stuff from my closet, putting down towels over the carpet, and catching water in a bucket. Then I had to call State Farm and then make a claim. I also looked up another roofer, so fingers crossed this place isn't filled with unprofessional shitbag brodude assholes like the last one.

Not sure how much this is going to cost, but now there is interior damage as well, especially to the drywall. I claimed the carpet too but heaven knows I'm not going to get a chance to replace that! I'll just suck up the water with my carpet shampooer and hope that helps. I'd love new carpet in the whole upstairs but not necessary at this time. The water damaged roof and drywall will have to be replaced though. So fun!  I had to make a new claim with State Farm, so who knows when we'll get our claim check, and who knows how I'm going to pay for the roof. Haha! Ugh.

Then to make things more fun, the toilet we tried fixing this weekend is still running. It works okay and flushes but won't stop running! Joe woke me up in the middle of the early morning to help him shut it off because he couldn't sleep with the noise. So we have to figure that out too. Might have to call a plumber for this one. UGHHHHH.  If we could swing it, I'd opt for a brand new toilet but since we have a roof to fix, probably need a quick fix for now. Or we just don't use the toilet upstairs, which SUCKS, since it's the master bedroom.

I know disasters come in threes so I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It would be lovely if I got a bonus check or a salary increase as promised. Still heard nothing on that. We'll see. At least my boss is letting me work home if I have to this week to deal with the roofers.

To top it off, we're supposed to have Juliet's party this weekend and if we need to spend time on these issues, I won't have time to get my house in order for this party, AND it's supposed to rain heavily on Wednesday again so I'm really nervous about this leak now.  

I just wish it would stop raining. Please Goddess stop raining. At least for a week... Send the rain to California or Montana.

And we saw my mom Saturday and though it was good, she was for whatever reason, an ass to my husband, and he lost it and went off on her at lunch. It was awkward. But I don't really blame him. She hasn't said anything to me about his outburst, and I don't suspect she will since she doesn't confront people nor does she seem to get it when people have issues with her. It's usually always THEIR fault. I'm thinking about talking to her myself if they won't communicate with each other. But I've been so busy with the roof, toilet, child party and other stuff that I haven't had a chance knowing it WILL create drama and I just don't have the patience for that now.

I'm pretty sure the coils I bought for my vape are wrong again. I might just get a new mod because this one is just burning through coils and I might as well spend the money on a new one. Not sure what is going on with it and it's frustrating me because it helps me deal with all this stress, and now it's just becoming another stress.

Oh, and another top off, I got my monthly visitor! Thanks universe! *flips the bird*

We had some high points of the weekend despite all this mess. We did get some more coverage for our house that went into effect Saturday, so I'm kind of hoping the lower deductible and some of these new coverages will help us with our leaky roof. Fingers crossed! 

I got to see my BFF and sister Beth this weekend too. Joe and I got some good errands done around the house and finally donated everything left over from the garage sale to charity. So that stuff is out of the garage! I got my beta work done for another story and had a little time to finish some reading. I did a little editing to my own story for the anthology too. I'm not sure when I'll have time to work on it again but I'll try.

Unfortunately I may have to drop out of the Reylo Charity Anthology. I've had NO time to draw or work on it, and the deadline is coming up. So I'm going to mull it over and see how the week goes, but I might end up sending them an email that I am out and try for next year. I'll finish my comic when I have time and then put it up on deviantart. :/ I might be able to contribute writing but right now I have no ideas because my brain is so on edge. Ugh. Maybe I'll come up with something. *shrug*

BUT at least there was new Doctor Who! OMG! My thoughts:
( Spoilers! New season of Doctor Who )

So yeah, that's the gist of my misery. I haven't had any time to write or work on freelancing either. I suck. :(

Take care everyone! Here's hoping your week is better than mine. I have a feeling that this is only the beginning to my woes this week. *crawls back under a rock*

My short story Mod Fury will be FREE this weekend on Amazon and will stay FREE until Wednesday October 3rd. 

Summary: They were once known through Greco-Roman times as the three vengeful spirits that punished the horrible transgressions of humanity. Now, in current times, the Three Furies have mellowed out and traded their ruthlessness for modern conveniences. Under the guidance of their mother the Goddess Nyx, the Furies avenge the wrongs that humans ignore. Short Story Prelude.


As always Mod Fury is always FREE on Kindle Unlimited!

from thefridayfive 


1) Do you enjoy your work?

Yes I do, very much! I'm finally doing something that I enjoy and that is actually what the job description entails.

2) Are you overpaid or underpaid for the work you do (or last did)?

I'm a bit underpaid for my job, but given the perks of this place, I don't mind. Plus it's a smaller company. I know I'd make more downtown Chicago in this position, but I'd rather make a little less and work out in the suburbs for a non-corporate company.

3) What one thing do you dislike most about your work?

The internal marketing meetings with the VP of Marketing. She's a notorious micromanager and a habitual delegator. I feel like she doesn't know much about Marketing.

4) What one thing would make your work life happier or more satisfying?

If they offered dental insurance and paid for the portion of health insurance for dependents. i have to pay full percentage for my daughter's health insurance on each paycheck. I'd probably keep a couple hundred dollars a paycheck if they just paid some of the dependency insurance. And FFS, dental insurance is not that expensive if you have enough employees. I guess at least I have vision insurance and damn good insurance for myself, so I'd see that as the only failing.

5) Do you try to fit into your workplace’s culture? What does that entail?

Well yes, but the culture is pretty simple here. We have a healthy balance of work and family life here. Most people don't involve each other in their personal lives outside of work. We're not "friends" outside of working together and everyone understands how important our families are to each other and that sometimes we need to take off or come in later to manage our kids. I respect that. I don't want to be friends with my coworkers even though I do like them. And everyone gets along well in my department, there's no cattiness, and no drama or cliques. It's professional and we still all have crazy humor and relate to each other generationally so it works.



***

Slow day at work. Not much is expected of me since my boss is gone and our site test went up yesterday. We launched an A/B test on our speedbumpsandhumps.com page and I created the UX and design for our product selector. The developer helped me with JS and some other functions, but most of this is mine. I'm rather proud of it. I hope it's successful. So far since yesterday afternoon we've generated $4K in sales from the test. Not bad! 

I finally sold one of my mom's lighthouse paintings on Letgo that she wants to get rid of (no she didn't paint them, just bought them a long time ago with my stepdad). I meet the guy tonight at Home Depot. I'm going to try to talk to him and see if he'll take the other two for $30 if I hold them for him. I just want them gone, and my mom doesn't seem to care what I get for them.

I'm picking up the Buddha head tomorrow and then we head out to a friend's place after that to check in on him. Joe says he's been very depressed lately and has been shutting people out and very down and I told Joe that I was worried about him, so he's agreed to meet us tomorrow to talk. I hope he's okay. I just want him to know that we're here for him. 

Back to the grind. I have so much writing and graphics to do. I hope I get the motivation to do some of it. Today would be perfect because no kid to grab me or bang on my computer, and I don't have anything pressing to do for work.

But I'm still exhausted. Tonight I might need to do a tarot reading for a guy through Facebook video. Other than that, I really want to just take it easy this weekend.

Have a good one, everyone! Stay cool if you're experiencing this dreadful heat!

I'm doing an anniversary special on my book Unbridled until Wednesday. Four years ago I published my first novel so I want to celebrate with a free giveaway! You can get your free copy to download on Amazon!


Summary: Two orphan brothers are taken in by their rich cousins, only to become involved in a dangerous and risque romance with their beautiful daughter. And as each brother falls for her further, dark secrets arise weakening their strong bond.

Add it to your Goodreads to-read list!

Signed up for two fics and as an artist. Whoot! It was so successful last year that I have to do it.

Join us at wipbigbang Sign up March 30-April 14 and Finish Your Sh**! This is a Big Bang with one goal in mind: to clean out your drafts folder. These are stories that were unfinished for whatever reason, that authors returned to and completed, and the art that goes with them! All fandoms welcome!