Task it Tuesday - Sept 24

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task It Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

Hard to believe more than a month has passed since I posted a Task it Tuesday. So, what's been going on with all of you? My world kind of looked like this:

• Came home from the Outer Banks and moved me mother-in-law in with us two days later.
• I worked part of our vacation, but things kicked into high gear as soon as I returned: three new listings within a week of being back (one unexpected), met with the elder care attorney, met with some of my business partners, meetings up the wazoo, and the market is moving so fast in some places if you blink twice you might miss something.
• Both girls started school, which made life easier and more challenging: back to regular schedules, but that means I'm driving the youngest around. Permit is coming at the end of the year.
• Took in the annual MAR Conference in September and also held a workshop at the library on book promotion.
• Closed two properties and put four more under contract.
• Gave the invocation at the Annual Legislative Breakfast and co-hosted a major investor event.
• Registration for the WriteAngles Conference launched and my treasurer duties kicked up a notch.
• Edited a manuscript for one of my publishers.
• Writing group met.
• Reviewed two books.
• Board meetings for the Wilbraham Friends of the Library started.
• Joined the board of Rick's Place.

I guess you have now figured out why I haven't been blogging much. LOL! 

The schedule finally slowed down this week, so I'm taking time to review my to-do list. Many of these are tasks that will take me more than a week, but every little bit helps. 

• Daily Bible reading
• Exercise four times a week (never happening, but the doctor says so)
• Blogging
• Get the yard ready for winter
• Clean the house
• Finish cleaning my office
• Get 6 hours of sleep a night
• Edit a manuscript
• Compile additional content for the hardcover release of A Christmas Kindness in 2020

Phew! Do you want to compare to-do lists? As we enjoy fall, let us take time to remember our many blessings--big and small--throughout the day. Enjoy your week!

2018 WriteAngles Conference Registration Now Open

Registration for this year's WriteAngles Conference has opened. The conference will take place on Saturday, November 17 at the Willits-Hallowell Center at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA.

Morning Speaker - Andrea Hairston

Afternoon Speaker - Edie Meidav


8:15 to 9:00 am – Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 to 9:30 am – Morning Keynote Speaker: Andrea Hairston (Morrison Room)

NOTE: Individual agent meetings will run concurrently with the morning panels, 9:45 to 12:30, by pre-arranged appointment.

PANEL SESSION I – 9:45 to 11:00 am (Choose one)

The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir: Writing the Journey of Your Life (Morrison Room)
Workshop leader: Jennifer Browdy

Writing Sex (Andreola Room)
Panelists: Sacchi Green, Emily Nagoski, Jupiter’s Slut (moderator), Cecilia Tan

She Did What? Weaving the Elements of Fiction into a Story (Executive Board Room)
Panelists: Liz Bedell, Jennifer Jacobson, Ellen Meeropol (moderator), Lisa C. Taylor

PANEL SESSION II – 11:15 am to 12:30 pm (Choose one)

Writing the Short Story (Executive Board Room)
Panelists: Jennifer Acker, Linda Rowland-Buckley (moderator), Linda McCullough Moore, Kate Senecal

Just the Facts: The Ins and Outs of Writing Historical and Research-Based Fiction & Nonfiction (Andreola Room)
Panelists: Joy Baglio, Maxine Schmidt, Jacqueline Sheehan, Marya Zilberberg (moderator)

Open Mic (Morrison Room)
Moderator: Ilya Parker

12:30 to 1:30 pm – Buffet Luncheon

1:30 to 1:45 pm – Celebration of WriteAngles Community Grant (Morrison Room)

Legal Clinic 1:30 to 4:00 pm (concurrent with afternoon keynote speech and panels)

1:45 to 2:45 pm – Afternoon Keynote Speaker: Edie Meidav (Morrison Room)

PANEL SESSION III – 3:00 to 4:15 pm (Choose one)

Agents Panel: Successful Loglines (Morrison Room)
Panelists: Serene Hakim, Christine J. Lee, Julie Stevenson, moderator TBA

Publishing Your Poems (Executive Board Room)
Panel moderator: Gail Thomas

4:15 to 4:30 pm – Wrap-up (Morrison Room)
Names will be drawn for attendance prizes. You must be present to win

Visit the WriteAngles website for more information

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts - Sep 12

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts is hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. This is a chance for book bloggers to dabble in areas besides books (but those are welcome too). Share your plans for the weekend, a rant on people not using their turn signals in parking lots, or your love of Sunday morning mimosas.

There are so many things going on right now, my brainy is a bit fried.

1. My house is filled with things from my in-laws' house just begging to find a permanent home, but my work schedule it crazy.
2. I listed a condo this week and will list two more properties by the end of the month. 
3. I'm desperately trying to find a charity to help an elderly homeowner with some deferred maintenance, so they can stay in their home as long as possible.
4. I ordered fall vegetable plants and need to carve out time to get them in the ground. 
5. The WriteAngles Conference is only two months away and I'm coordinating agent meetings this year in addition to being treasurer. 
6. I rejoined the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) because my writing has been ignored too long. 
7. I would love to plan a virtual book tour for November to promote my books, but not sure that will happen.
8. Exciting news that is writing related: I've been contracted as an acquisitions editor intern for 4 RV Publishing. They published my second book, A Christmas Kindness. If all goes well, I'll become a lead editor. 

Hope you have a blessed week. Please say a prayer for everyone down in the Carolinas as they brace for Hurricane Florence. 

You've Got Mail Monday

November is halfway over. Thank goodness. I'm just about done in, but if I can make it to November 30th, it will get easier from there. I attended the WriteAngles Conference this Saturday. John Katzenback, author of Hart's War and Just Cause sat on one of the panels I attended. Anthony Swofford, author of the memoir, Jarhead was on another panel. Keynote speakers were Pat Schneider and Suzy Becker. Great day and bought books I have no room for in my office--like always. I picked up Katzenbach's book, What Comes Next, Everything I Was by Corinne Demas (she sat on the same panel as Kaztzenbach and I loved her), Swofford's book, Jarhead, for my hubby, and The King's Agent by Donna Russo Morin, who just so happens to be friends with one of my favorite historical fiction authors, C.W. Gortner. I also saw a local teacher and purchased her book directly from her: The Paladins DuBois by Patricia Donaruma Williford.

My office remains a mountain of books, which I have to clean because the Lil' Diva is having party here on Friday night and I sure don't want anyone to think I'm a total slob. I'm really not, I've just had a hectic year and haven't been able to stay on top of things the way I usually do.

Christmas presents have started to arrive from various retailers. One of the presents I was going to get the hubby ended up being an emergency purchase when his shaver died. Well, died isn't actually accurate; it broke and wouldn't shut off. The new Braun will arrive tomorrow. In the meantime, I managed to convince the old shaver to stop running constantly by knifing it almost to death. Some of its parts will never be the same. Dad used to have one of those self-cleaning shavers, but it took up a lot of counter space and required regular purchases of the cleaning cartridge, which weren't cheap even at Walmart. Here's the new purchase:




I wonder why he opted to go with a wet and dry shaver this time. He's never done that before.

The coming of Christmas means the mail carrier, the UPS driver and the FedEx driver are all visiting us often. I still have boxes in the playroom from this week's deliveries. I picked up a couple of cute seasonal bread pans so I can make something for the church bazaar. I'm not much of a crafter these days, so I'm focusing on filling up the bake sale table.

Thy Will Be Done by Ronald Kirk and Closet Words by Kim Hilton arrived this week. I'll be reviewing those books during their December virtual book tours. I received a small catalog from the National Home Gardening Club, which I am a member of, about the AeroGarden. These units allow you to garden all year long. Too bad my cats would eat anything I tried to grow in the house. My December issue of All You magazine arrived, as did the first issue of my new HGTV Magazine subscription. Actually, my office right now is also piles of unread magazines. I swear, I will get to them all. I don't subscribe to anything just for the heck of it.

I also received this new product to review. It's called Re-Grip®. You install it on tool handles and it redistributes the energy created by impact. I think I'll try to add it to my rubber mallet to see how it works.

That's it for this week's You've Got Mail Monday. Hope you enjoy your week.

You've Got Mail Monday

Oh my gosh, it's been busy around here. I've been finishing off registration for WriteAngles, a local writers conference I attend each fall. The mail carrier delivered the remaining plants for the backyard, which got added to the new flower bed yesterday. I've been taking in the rest of the herbs and freezing them or making herb butter so I have them for the winter. And of course, there is still soccer and cheerleading.

When fall arrives, it's kind of sad to watch as the plants die off, the patio furniture is put into storage, and all the leaves fall down. But it's nice to see the yard looking so clean after we rake up and blow the fallen leaves away and clean up the flower beds and vegetable garden. I'm also making plans for spring, so I have that to look forward to.

Like I said, the mail carrier brought in those remaining plants I was waiting for. The Lil' Diva helped me get these beauties into the ground yesterday. I can't wait to see what this looks like next year. This area is mostly shade, so I stuck with hostas, a brandywine bush, some lilac astilbes, neat-looking black mondo grass, and an ostrich fern.

Through Crowdtap, I received samples of Cottonelle's® flushable wipes, along with two small sample packs to share with neighbors. I'm reviewing these on their site. I have another sample package for Truvia® Natural Sweetener coming soon. I have to say that Crowdtap has been the most successful in the terms of winning prizes and being accepted to try free samples.

My Land's End Kids catalog and the Oriental Trading catalog arrived last week. I usually find value priced Christmas ornaments for my many trees in the OT catalog. Another great book arrived last week, too: Amanda Weds Her Man by Naomi King. I've been following the Cedar Creek series for a while and I'm always thrilled to see a new book release. I'll be reviewing this book at The Book Connection.

That's it for this week. Hope you have a great one.

You've Got Mail Monday

So many things arrived this week that I can't even begin to list them all. The girls jackets from The North Face® arrived, and despite the slightly warmer temperatures last week, they insisted upon wearing them to school Thursday and Friday. The warmer temps will continue through the middle of this week, but in the mornings it's down in the 40s, so the girls will still need them.

All the clothes I ordered for myself also came in. I ended up wearing this lovely metallic tweed jacket to the WriteAngles conference on Saturday. I received so many compliments on it, I'm sure I'll be wearing it often. I might wear it to my job interview today.

I was disappointed that the flats I bought from Famous Footwear® need to be returned. I bought them in size 6 because often a 5 1/2 doesn't fit right, but these are slightly too big. I hope I'll be able to exchange them. One of the reviews said they run big. Too bad I didn't notice that before I ordered them.

In the book department, I received Beside Two Rivers by Rita Gerlach and A Texan's Choice by Shelley Gray. I'll be reviewing these at The Book Connection next month.

That's it for now. Hope you have a great week.

Another WriteAngles Conference Come and Gone!

It's hard to believe, but after months of hard work, this year's WriteAngles Conference is over. We had a ton of fun, and there were so many interesting panels to choose from, it was hard to decide what to do.

As registrar, I didn't get a chance to attend too many panels, but I did manage to take in the entire Writing Young Adult and Middle Grade Fiction one. D. Dina Friedman moderated this panel that included writers Jeannine Atkins and Lisa Papademetriou. I was so impressed with what these ladies had to say that I bought one of each of their books. If I were richer, I would have picked up more.

Add in two great keynote speakers and four fabulous agents and it was a wonderful day. The staff from the Willits-Hallowell Center at Mount Holyoke College did a superb job of creating a relaxing, pleasant setting for the conference, and once again, the food was phenomenal. After a short rest, I'm ready to do it all again.

Have you attended any writers conferences this year? What was your favorite part?

You've Got Mail Mondays

Slow mail week, mostly junk and a couple of catalogs. What has been streaming in are registrations for the WriteAngles Conference on October 20th at the Willits- Hallowell Center at Mount Holyoke College. I'm registrar again this year, so I'm working on keeping up with everything coming in.

The Lil Diva's order from Justice® arrived on Friday, which made her very happy. She loved everything, but her favorite item seems to be this Cool Zebra Dry Erase Board. It now adorns her side of the refrigerator.

I'm a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). I received an invitation to the SCBWI Luncheon for PAL (published and listed) members in November. If I have the chance to attend, I'll get to meet  Jane Yolen. That would be very exciting.

That's it from me. Feel free to share what came in your mailbox. Hope you have a great week.