Projects and Catch Up and New Ventures

I finished the striped sweater except for weaving in the ends (as you can see from the photo), and am working on another one when the mornings are cool enough. I am also making a shawl from cotton and knitting on a secret project for a friend. I also have an entire laundry basket full of finished projects that need their ends woven in. I am planning a movie marathon day to get as many as I can finished up. We need the use of the laundry basket back!
This week I am also weaving in the ends on a pattern I designed that is ALMOST ready. I need to get a few good photos, but with my new friends here at the apartment complex, I think I can find someone. It will be my 50th published pattern. Wow. I can hardly believe it!:-}
I have a hankering to design three related but different hat patterns, too; one colorwork (Fair Isle designs) one using twisted Bavarian stitches and the other based on Gansey knit and purl patterns.
I am still eager to put together an ebook of patterns between now and the end of the year, but keep getting side tracked. I plan to use the 'list 6 items' method to organize my days a bit better. I started yesterday, and am about 1/3rd of the way done with half the items on the list. My grade so far in my opinion is 'Needs Improvement!'
I also am toying with having the patterns be part of a short story. I love writing fiction but haven't done much of it for quite some time. The photos will need to be pretty high quality stuff for the ebook. I am still pondering. Maybe the short story ebook will wait until next year and I will focus on a pattern collection ebook in the meantime.
I skipped swimming this past weekend because of a chest cold, but am eager to return to the pool this coming weekend. My dad has been sick, but seems to be mostly out of the woods. We hope to visit him and Mom over Labor Day weekend. Oscar's work is morphing again, but the new incarnation will likely be better for his goal of getting his Bachelor (and possibly later his Masters!) degree. This Wednesday if all goes well he will have officially tested and completed the first three classes, and he is only 6 weeks into the term! He is already studying for class four. I am very proud of him. :-}
Another project I am working on is creating a second blog focusing on non-fiction book reviews. I have a very wide range of interests, and have been given some non-fiction books for review via Netgalley that have me very excited. It is a way to pursue those interests even though I can no longer get out into the field. Some of the topics are wildcrafting, conservation, environmentally sound vehicles, women adventurers, and odd folks from Canada as well as some Pagan spiritualism and self-help books.Of course there are several crafting books on knitting there too. Who knows what will catch my eye in the future? I have enough non-fiction books in my queue now to last through December. I did a quick search and it seems there are a preponderance of fiction review blogs, but very few non fiction, and almost no eclectic non-fiction blogs.
I am also toying with a name for the review blog, perhaps I'll keep it simple, something like Otterwise Books.  Any ideas?

Mad for Mod Cozy Mystery Series

I recently reviewed a cozy mystery series that I really enjoyed.
It is written by Diane Vallere, who also writes the Style and Error series (which I have not read).
This series, the Mad for Mod series is written around Madison Night, who shares a birthday with Doris Day.
She has a strong interest in mid-century design, and runs a decorating business in Dallas called Mad for Mod.
Vallere does a great job writing a tightly-plotted cozy mystery with a strong female lead, with plenty of references to Doris Day's movies sprinkled throughout. The first book is called Pillow Stalk, the second, which I reviewed, is That Touch of Ink (link is to my full review on Freshfiction.com).
I love Doris Day's romantic comedies so this book really hit the spot. Luckily enough, Turner Classic Movies was running a Doris Day movie collection the day I finished reading the book, so I was able to fill my craving almost immediately.
(Image above is a still from Glass Bottom Boat)

Pretty Good

Today has started well.

Last night Oscar and I were bushed. It has been a long week and we have both felt a bit under the weather. We ended up getting to sleep before 10 p.m.; about two hours earlier than usual. I must be getting over the sluggishness of the most recent incursion of germs, as I awoke bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after my more usual seven hours of sleep. The past few weeks I have been sleeping nine and ten hours a night, with a few naps added in to take off the edges.

I have been reading the books on my review list steadily the past week, as well as writing the rough drafts but until this morning I didn't have the clarity of mind to polish them up for publication. This morning I brought out the buffer and got three of them submitted to the Freshfiction site. I have several more roughed out and ready for the final stages, but I have learned I need a small break after every two or three are finished. I will get back to them in a little bit and see how many I can submit today. A version of making hay while the sun is shining; I need to use my brain whenever it shows up ready for work! I get a lot of the details and impressions down with the rough drafts, thank goodness, so the polishing usually takes less than 40 minutes for the approximately 300-word reviews. I am proud to say I have 78 reviews published, not counting today's efforts. I wanted to have 100 done by the end of the year, but I will be happy with whatever the final number ends up being.

I had a rather wonderful thing on the Otterwise front happen this week as well. Knitting Robin, a blog I have followed for some time, requested an interview from me a few weeks ago. The interview was published on Christmas Eve, and I couldn't be happier with it. She asks some great questions, and I am very honored to have my interview there among so many designers I have admired for years.

Book Review: When Blood Calls

J. K. Beck (also published as Julie Kenner) sent me an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) of the first in her new Urban Fantasy Series 'When Blood Calls' in exchange for my review:

Sara Constantine is a prosecuting attorney and a damn good one. Her promotion to Division 6 is sudden, but not surprising until the veil of secrecy is lifted and she learns what lies behind the placid surface of her world. It seems werewolves, demons and vampires are real, and although many of them are law abiding, the evildoers need prosecuting just as human criminals do. The laws are archaic, the punishments swift and bloody but her job is much the same; until she learns the man who made her body burn and her heart tremble a few nights ago is a vampire accused of murder, and her responsibility is to see justice done.

Lucius Dragos has been around for centuries, fulfilling his responsibilities as a dark ops specialist for the council and keeping his ward safe from harm. It was not often any more that lust held him in its clawed grip, but the woman he encountered a few nights ago has his fire burning hot again. Even as he awaits capture the memory of her scent distracts him from the hunt.

When a serial killer Sara put away escapes and is joined by an evil female vampire she needs Lucius alive to find them, and put the killer behind bars again before any more young girls are slaughtered.

When Lucius’ ward Tasha disappears his plans for escape must change. Although a grown vampire, her mind had not transitioned well. To save her from execution he took responsibility for her, and her actions. He needs Sara's help to free long enough to find Tasha and keep her safe.

WHEN BLOOD CALLS is a fantastic first entry in the Shadow Keeper series by J. K. Beck. Hot sex, blood chilling consequences and heart pounding danger kept me riveted to this gritty urban fantasy; the book was finished before I was ready to let go. Thank goodness there are more in the series soon to come and I needn’t wait too much longer for another dose. ‘When Pleasure Rules’ is due out near the end of September; ‘When Wicked Craves’ near the end of October.

One of my jobs..

One of my jobs is to write reviews for Fresh Fiction.

I had to take a break from it last year, when I was so sick, before we figured out my allergy/sensitivity to citric acid combined with fibro, arthritis, adhesions, etc, etc was messing me up big time.

As I recovered from the worst of it, I was able to start reviewing again in December. The two reviews went so smoothly I am plunging in gung ho this year.

I received a shipment of six brand new books yesterday, including a new Darkover Novel by MZB (and Deborah J. Ross). JOY!!! My payment for doing reviews is the books themselves. I am very well paid, I feel.

Since it only takes me a few hours to read a book, about half an hour to write a rough draft, and 1-2 hours to polish it a few days later, I feel well able to handle them, and in fact requested more books for this month.

In December writing reviews provided a wonderful balance with doing all the math and techno-speak required for writing patterns. As I have relatively simple knitting to do, and only 3 more patterns in the works (only one of which has a deadline of March 1st) I plan to get the reviews for these six books done within the next ten days, if not sooner.

I can read and write rough drafts for about 2 books a day, even while knitting in between. If I use a book stand for the hardcovers, I can knit WHILE I read if I'm only doing stockinette or garter stitch. (Bonus!)

I do love to multi task. I even write the rough draft of the review as I am reading. Often a turn of phrase describing my journey through the book comes to mind, and if I don't write it down, my memory will likely not be obliging later.

I don't like to write the finished review until it has had time to mature a while, at least one night's sleep. In that time I go back to my pattern writing.

It feels wonderful to be busy, and relatively well!

It is true if you don't have your health, the rest of your life is much circumscribed. But you do celebrate a lot more, as you appreciate every ray of sunshine that shows up.

Just feeling this well, and being able to work at what I love is enough to keep me taking very good care of myself. If I physically overdo, I could spiral right back to where I was last year.

I guess that's my first and most important job, NOT overdoing thing physically.

Working until my body is exhausted totally screws with my ability to think, and endangers my other two jobs.

Thank goodness working until my brain is a little tired doesn't harm the rest of my body.