After much difficulty, we're LIVE, people!

The Northern Bard Publications version of "The Tiger's Cub" went live today, with the gorgeous cover featuring Derek Yates and Belle Louve. If one buys the paperback, the Kindle is free. There's also a "borrow" option for the Kindle version, so if someone has it, you can borrow it for two weeks from them.

Here's the link:  http://www.amazon.com/The-Tigers-Cub-Tiger-Series/dp/069240001X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1427767636&sr=1-1

I won't even go into what it took to get it there, properly set up, as this process began a week ago....

*sigh*

In other news, it looks like the belly bump that has been confirmed as a hernia is going to give me a minimum of two weeks out of work while the surgery site heals.

Hmmmm......

 How much writing can I get done, since I can't lift or pull on anything (preventing housework) for two weeks minimum?

*cue dramatic music*

Only the Shadow knows.....

Announcing the NEW cover for The Tiger's Cub

While I've been busy with the "alien baby" doctor visits - and taking silly "selfies" to show the doctor for the next visit, since the bump seems to disappear whenever I go into a doctors office to have it looked at (see the circled area in the pic, which one friend notes looks like a baby's foot pressing against the skin even though it's not even close to where a baby's foot would be if I could still get preggers) - the team at Northern Bard Publications has been getting the re-release ready to go.

After being told by the printer that the writing on the back was too close to the edge, the art director started over on the back cover, bringing the background to the same light intensity of the front cover before restoring the writing with the same font as she used for the titles and author name. I like this new look, as it looks very "pulled together". I'm still VERY impressed that Derek Yates was able to come up with the exact look I needed to make it look like Chase Benton is in an alley in New Orleans, thinking about the young woman he's just met.....

So, the official "release date" for the 2nd printing of The Tiger's Cub is April 7th (my mom's birthday, as it seemed the right thing to do) and I'm thinking of offering free Kindle downloads for any who have been wanting the book and have a Kindle, but are short on funds. In the meantime, there's been a CT scan done that will hopefully show what that "hide and seek" bump is and whether I'm going to need surgery to deal with it.

In the meantime, the art director at Northern Bard Publications is all excited about having found some local farms that still have silos that she can go out and take photographs of once the snow melts. There are a lot of thoughts about whether or not we'll actually need to have a model for the re-release of Night of the Tiger, but I'm being strongly encouraged to begin the editing process for the interior - which needs some sincere re-writing before the newest release for the original book in the series - and there are some photos being passed back and forth.

Here's hoping that I miraculously "find" the funding should the decision be to hire yet another model - or models - to represent Kyle and Teresanna on the new cover.....

The Joys of Getting Old

I'm trying hard to keep panic at bay as I prepare myself for the third doctor visit of five since February 12th....

The first visit to my new doctor, as I wanted one who wasn't going to just say "Take a PILL" (cue Mark Blankfield skit from Fridays: http://youtu.be/0ghh5yXlEaw), I was told that I was of that age that I needed some tests to happen. Because I've also been having some minor stomach pain - seemingly tied to the times that I opt to eat something like McDonalds instead of my normal Mediterranean-styled diet - she thought it a good idea, since my dad, an aunt, my grandmother and a cousin (all on the same side of the family) all died of a singular form of cancer that first appeared as a minor stomach issue, to arrange for an ultrasound just to be safe...

Before I left the office, I had blood drawn. Apart from a lack of red blood cells - possibly an infection I wasn't aware of - there was nothing to report.

The second visit was the ultrasound. Much to everyone's surprise, something strange was found just above my navel, where the pain I've been feeling (and ruling out as a gas bubble) after eating "junk" has been located. A colonoscopy and a visit to a surgeon were scheduled.

The colonoscopy happened last week, and my mother was expecting that I'd be told that I take after her, just as my two older sisters do. She has diverticulitis, as does the second eldest of my two sisters. The other sister has one step down from that, colitis. Same digestive issue, just not as severe as mom's. I'm the first one to break that trend, as all that was found was a single polyp and the hemorrhoids that I've had since I gave birth to my son. No answer about that foolish bump that appears now and then in my stomach. It isn't the painful bubble that my mom and sister tend to get.

With my dad, gram, aunt and cousin on my mind, I've been trying to remain optimistic that the little bump in my own belly is nothing to worry about, but the surgeon's appointment to discuss how to gather tissue to test is this afternoon.....

And the fear that I'm next to fight the battle four members of my family fought and lost has been hiding just below the surface, even as I try to think more about the mammogram that has yet to be scheduled.

I'm writing this post this morning as a little public "thank you" to my daughter, who has been going through her own painful gauntlet in the form of a failed marriage that only lasted three months while she lived with her husband, but has been dragging on for six months now as she waits for the final papers stating that she can start using her maiden name again. Without her helping me through a panic attack last night, I'd be a shaking mess as I wait for the time to leave for my meeting with the surgeon, to hear whether we can do a fine needle aspirate to remove a small tissue sample or whether I'm to go under the knife to discover what this little belly bump truly is....

With a little grace from The Universe, this too shall pass, and I'll still be here, blogging away, when I need a special magnifying glass to allow me to read the screen.

Besides, I'd hate to miss the mammogram. I've been practicing for it by going out to the big freezer in the garage and pressing "the girls" in the door, getting myself used to the cold and the squeezing....

Ode to an old friend

I know a lot of people who change out their cell phones the minute they get that "eligible for upgrade" message from their cell phone provider. Being raised while dinosaurs still walked the earth with the basic theme of our lives being "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", I'm not that type of person. In fact, it almost took an act of Congress to get me to start using a cell phone in the first place.

My husband was the first one to carry a cell phone in our house. It was a work requirement, as he needed to be able to call into the office when they paged him from wherever he might be. In those early days, the reception might not be great, as there weren't that many towers up, but as soon as he got a signal, he would call through.

Then, as technology expanded and he got more comfortable with having that phone attached to his hip, he started checking in with me on his way home, as I was a stay-at-home mom and might not have made it out to the grocery store with the two kids for such things as milk that we might need to make supper....

And I was sometimes taking the kids to the playground or to the library, so sometimes when he called, he got the answering machine that we'd purchased second hand - the one that would sometimes let you know there was a message, but sometimes it didn't, so I would occasionally not call him back at the right time.

When the kids got old enough for us to afford to put the youngest in day care while the oldest was at school, I went back to work. Having been out of the job field for a while, I went to work for a temp agency, and I wasn't always given the phone number of the place I was temping before leaving that first morning at a new location. Calls were made to the home phone, but we still had that "iffy" answering machine, and it didn't always respond when I was calling in to check messages before heading home. There were days when I would arrive at the day care to find out that my husband had already picked up the kiddo, and would get home to find him angry because he had been trying to reach me to let me know that he and the kids had made chocolate milk as a snack when they got home and we needed milk. There were times when the car broke down and I was unable to reach him to let him know that I was running late.

After a point, my having a cell phone began to be an important part of our discussions.

Being the type of person who will research things before I spend my hard-earned money, I was soon finding that there was no way, on our budget, for me to afford the "monthly fee" type cell phone, so I started picking up the "buy your minutes on a card" version. This worked rather well for a long time, as I very rarely actually use my phone, so therefore, I could spend $100 for a 500 minute prepaid card that gave me a full year to use up my time....and I was rolling over minutes when the expiration date neared.

Then our son, who had started a monthly plan instead of getting a land line while he was married, went through a divorce. Since he didn't want to turn off his only phone, he offered me the phone he'd gotten for free for his wife when he bought the plan. Giving up the flip phone "buy as you go" phone for my very first IPhone, I felt like I had stepped into the real world. My husband and daughter were soon added to the "family plan", followed by my son's new girlfriend.

I purchased a Tigger cover to protect my phone, and, since I still rarely used it, it didn't get much in the way of wear and tear. Not so some of the other phones in our family plan. Each time my opportunity to upgrade my phone came about, someone else in the plan had damaged their phone and needed the new phone more than I did. I gave up my upgrades more than once, with that "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" adage I had grown up with still ringing in my ears.

Then, yesterday, I dropped my ancient IPhone, which my co-workers had been teasing me was a total dinosaur and needed to be replaced. The screen, despite having survived many such drops in the past, shattered. Heart-broken, I made the appointment to meet my son at the AT&T store to trade up.

I've just finished the transfer of information from my old IPhone to my new HTC Desire. Tongue firmly in cheek, I changed the name of the phone from "HTC Desire 610" to "Debi's Desire". It seemed very apropos for a romance writer to have that as a phone.

But I'm going to miss my little Tigger....

We had so many years together, watching the other dinosaurs die out....