Category: Life

family news, commentary on any other aspect of life

Grammar Wars

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Recently I joined a group on Facebook.  I’m not a huge fan of groups because mostly people don’t do anything in them.  It’s tedious and I have too much to do for tedious.  This group has proved to be less than annoying.  I’ve met writers who are willing to have an intelligent conversation without the normal crap.

I’ve been in the group a few weeks and have made a few good connections.  It’s been fun to talk writing without people getting that glassed over look non-writers get. 

Then last night hit.  I posted a short, simple and polite response to a comment.  The crazies must have been out because this woman badgered me with eight or ten posts telling me how wrong everything I said was.  She was rude and arrogant about it.  I tried the whole – we’ll have to agree to disagree – now this wasn’t the OP (which I’ve learned means original poster) it was one of the other respondents.  But the battery continued.  I stopped responding.

Responding to a post about grammar, I thought twice about it at the time but thought – okay it can’t be horrible.  I was wrong.  I tried answering the person to the best of my knowledge even going so far as to look up in books and other sources how to do what she asked.  My answer was contrary to what the majority was saying. 

I’m okay with people disagreeing with me.  I’m okay with people having different opinions.  I’m not okay with bullying, rude, obnoxious people who think they KNOW everything.  As I got blasted, I looked back and saw others disagreeing and getting blasted. 

Now I’m a determined person.  Most of the time I let crap like this go away – these are anonymous people who have their opinion.  I don’t have to agree with them.  But EVERY post which didn’t agree with the majority people were blasted.  This doesn’t encourage discussion or education.  It only stifles those who were expressing themselves. 

I erased more than I said – I can be a little bitchy and sarcastic on occasion.  I tried to keep things reasonable and polite.  People through their credentials at me.  I said I wasn’t having a credentials fight.  I ended up changing that – I finally caved – you all my have been teachers (this does not guarantee you know best)  – but I have two college degrees, have published over 100 products – books, crochet patterns and so on. 

One woman asked me if  – She said. – was a complete sentence.  My answer – yes.  She is a pronoun/subject and said is a verb/predicate.  It is a complete simple sentence.  This was a downright grammar war.  I’ve always said grammar is flexible and it is.  These people were not.  I tried blocking the notifications but it wouldn’t let me.  I pointed out the bullying behavior and people got snottier.

I posted samples and books to support my point all to get me more slaps and mean rude and unjustified comments.  All this drama over how to punctuate dialog.  Look, educate, and be open to alternatives.

No Meds or Meds?

by eileentroemel, posted in Life

Yesterday for some weird reason, I forgot to take my morning meds.  This had good and bad effects for my day.  I had a hard time breathing, moving, and coping.  All day, I struggled with pain and stuffed head.  Of course I wasn’t sure I’d forgotten – I might have been having a bad day – so I couldn’t take anything until I figured it out.  This meant the end of the day when I got home.  It was a miserable day.  EVERYTHING hurt including a massive sinus migraine.

The nice thing – hey my drugs do stuff for me.  There are times I HATE taking my meds.  I think – oh I’ll just stop taking them and cope on my own.  I know today that will make my life significantly more painful. 

By the time I got home, I could barely get up the two steps from my family room to my kitchen.  Once I was in the recliner, I didn’t not want to move.  So I live (with my meds) at a six for pain.  This was a twelve.  It took everything in me not to sit there and ball my eyes out.  Only person to blame was me.  I picked up my med container and sure enough – there they were.  Swallowing them, I tried to sit back and relax in the hopes the pain would ease.  It did eventually but it took most of the night. 

I’m still in pain today but it might be the weather causing the problem.  Yes I definitely took my meds this morning. 

Meanderings

by eileentroemel, posted in Life

It’s been a good and a bad week for me.  My gout is acting up so my pain level is up – this is the bad in case you didn’t know.  I’m going to get the whining out of the way.  I’m having a hard time walking, standing up straight – this is also arthritis not just gout.  With the rain, comes pain. 

On the plus side – I’ve got a new book out.  I have a five star review on it on Goodreads!  I also got a five star review on the crochet pattern – Half Dozen Headbands! 

I was writing hot and heavy on a story but I’m looking for ideas.  While I look I’ve been doing all sorts of other things – marketing, editing, and reading.  I have all my book covers on Pinterest and Mogul.  Next step is to get them up on Instagram. 

I’ve been feeling really grumpy lately.  I’m in serious grumpy mode.  This doesn’t happen to me often.  I don’t want to talk to anyone (yet here I am writing a blog – yes I am aware of the irony) and I don’t want to do social crap.  I want to do what I want to do and if I could do it alone – all the better. 

People don’t get the need to be alone.  I haven’t had a lot of time to myself and it means I’m ornery.  I don’t mind talking to the right people but lately I feel like I’m stuck in a rut and not able to get what I want done.  The problem?  I’m not getting the writing things I want done.  I was supposed to publish two manuscripts (one under my pen name and Royal Undercover).  I only got one done.  I’m grumbling about my current work in process because I’m not getting the other things done. 

I have a list of subjects for the crochet magazine.  I’m hoping to get a few projects done so I can submit them.  I have a couple of ideas I need to get done for the event in November.  My to do list grows and grows.  I need to take a breath and either write it all down (which will probably put me in shock) or I need to let it go and get busy. 

This week I’ve been reading.  I started a few series and have read a few books into them.  I’m not reading a dragon series by Julia Mills.  I don’t know how I feel about it.  There’s a story line which carries on throughout the books.  I’m hoping the format isn’t too formulaic.  The first one was good enough I wanted to read the second.  I’ll see  how the second goes.  One thing I don’t like is there’s a lot of internal dialog – which I’m okay with in general but this seems like a lot.  These are supposed to be erotica books – that means getting the two main characters together and getting things going.  I skim a lot.  I’ll see how I feel after the second one.

 I need to crack down and get stuff done.  I think if I can get things done, I’ll feel better.  So I either shove a movie in and crochet or I work on writing tasks.  And I stop whining. 

On a Roll

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

The words flow from me and I’m working hard on a number of projects.  I finished and published Wayfarer Evolution.  I’ve got other manuscripts edited and I’m hoping to get them on the computer soon.  In the meanwhile, I’ve started – or restarted – this story I’ve had in my slush pile.  I’m 55K into the manuscript.  

Over the weekend, I wrote 21K words to pull the story along.  I can see later scenes and see how the story will unfold.  I’m not sure on the climactic scene yet or if this will be a series.  I am sure I like the story.
All week I’ve been adding to this story by leaps and bounds.  Tonight I crept along rather than leaping.  I stopped at one point because I wasn’t sure where the story was going.  I came home and normally I’m opening my computer and shooing the people away.  Tonight it was more – okay I can write.  
The problem – I still wasn’t sure how the scene was going to go.  Instead of leaping into it, I opted to go back and read through the story.  I updated my character list as I had missed some.  I corrected misspelling, grammar, typographical errors and so on.  
I got to the end and I still wasn’t sure but I started writing.  Every other night I could tell you I added 3K or 4K or whatever to the story.  Tonight I added about 1500.  I aim for a minimum of 50K and I’m past that.  Now I’m going to write till the end of the story.  If I’m any judge, I’ll probably end up with 15 – 20 K more.  If I write this weekend, it is probably the amount of work I can get done in the weekend.  However, I never know where the characters will take me.
This is the time I want three or four of me to be able to do all the tasks I need to do.  Some of my other tasks are creating patterns to submit to the magazine which pays for them; editing; publishing; marketing as I’ve been adding my books and patterns to Mogul, Ravelry (just patterns), and Pinterest.  I should be putting out review requests but I am struggling at this point because I feel like I’m not getting enough writing time.  
I keep reminding myself I can only do what I can do.  I’m hoping I’ll keep this juggling act going and get it all done.  It’s June and I have to think about the goody bags and the basket for the raffle.  I may have to edit tasks to get everything done.  
It’s my hope I can keep moving forward and not get stressed by the long to do list which is rattling through my head.  I keep reading the list and crossing things off.  One thing at a time – it’s the only way.  

Dear Canada (and the rest of the world too)

by eileentroemel, posted in Life

I’d like to offer my sincerest apologies to our neighbors to the north – and the rest of the world.  If we look at the popular vote, he is not the people’s choice.  But things being fucked up like they are, our president has managed to annoy, embarrass, and alienate the entire world. 

Being in Wisconsin, we are only a lake away from Canada.  My parents used to go fishing in Canada and loved it.  I’ve met a number of Canadians and they were lovely.  I’ve watched the border shows and the people were lovely.  I have no idea why our president is such an idiot. 

The things he says are lies – not fake news – just plain and simply lies.  His trade sanctions are only going to hurt the regular guy.  It is going to hurt the farmers – who are dying out because they can’t afford to be a family farmer anymore. 

In my opinion, Trump is going to drive this country into another recession or depression.  Obama – yes I’m daring to say his name and compare even though Trump vilifies him – worked hard to bring some equity, to balance out our economy.  They talk about the low unemployment rate like Trump came into power and wham the unemployment rate happened.  That isn’t true and I question the lower rate.  Are people really in jobs which are paying the bills or are they taking ANYTHING to attempt to make ends meet? 

Gas prices are going up.  This means all prices will go up because most goods are transported via truck.  The higher gas prices go, the less everyone has to spend on anything.  Now he’s doing all these trade sanctions – when will this end? 

To the world – I’m sorry for the insanity which led to our current president.  You can bet we are all counting the days until the next election.  I cringe whenever the president is on the news.  I cringe when I hear he’s been tweeting.  I cringe when he is opens his mouth.  Hopefully we can discard him soon and move on to a better leader in the new election.

Crossing Off

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life, Writing

Last night I wrote until 2 am.  You would think I would be able to sleep in.  Nope, eyes popped open early and while I attempted to sleep some more, I only dozed.  I was still up by 7:30.  I was determined to get things done today.

I tackled my desk.  I organized paperwork by filing a bunch and stacking in a pile more.  This pile I have to figure out a solution for.  I’m handling all of my mother’s paperwork so I need to figure out where I’ll keep it.  I have it in my top drawer in the file cabinet next to me but the drawer is full.  It’s difficult to put more in there.  I’m going to have to figure out where to go with it so it remains convenient.

I paid her bills, ordered items she needs, and sent a text to my sisters to ask them to check her stock when they visit.  I’ve been a bad (ish?) daughter as I haven’t visited her.  It started six weeks ago with laryngitis, shifted to a kidney stone (not contagious but I was in too much pain), flu and now upper respiratory crud.  I’m toxic and am not visiting my mother.

I worked on my bills, sales info and facebook for writing discussions on this new group I’m on.  I wrote two book reviews and sent them to the person who requested them.  I wrote a blog posting for Witches & Pagans.  I updated my sales spreadsheet.

My daughter made lunch so I had lunch with Ken and Vicki.  It was nice to put my feet up and kick back for an hour though my eyes thought they should close and my brain thought it should sleep.  I made it stay awake.  I put the dirty clothes down the laundry chute so Vicki can do laundry.

Then I tackled posting eight crochet patterns on Ravelry.  I’m writing this blog and then I get to go back to the story I was working on last night until 2 am.  I’m hoping the flow continues as it was working nicely.

My list got handled!  I got a lot done and as I read this I think I deserve a nap… nap or writing… hmmm I’ll have to see if the writing goes well.

Now I still have a long list of crocheting, writing, editing, and other things to get done.  I’m trying to savor the moment.  I got to throw out two post its!

Tomorrow will be prep for breakfast and lunches and then back to my list – I hope.  I’m going to try to take it easy tomorrow and see what mischief I get up to.

Wayfarer Evolution and Other Good News!

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life, Writing

It’s done!  It’s published!  I’m really excited about this one.  I think the story turned out really good.  I’m pleased with the end result.

Here is a synopsis of it:

With the retreat of the Hettians to their own space, Adara is left to face the day to day running of the Wayfarers.  With Oakes’ reassurance and Decker’s support, she plans to take the new ship and explore their sectors.  A visit from Dalina of the Tuscalains and trouble in Hometown, Adara’s escape is delayed.
Adara settles into having four children but worries she isn’t giving them enough time while she is Mathair Naclan.  Consulting with Oakes, she and Decker plan to return to space so she can explore their sectors. 
Unrest with the Humans only group causes conflict and violence in Hometown.  Adara’s children and family are threatened.  Adara’s assistants are attacked, which leads to their first trial.  Due to her involvement with the victims, Adara stays on the sideline of the trial. 

Back in space, Adara settles into running the Wayfarers and exploring space.  She finds comfort and excitement in learning how to delegate and balance her life.  But the conflict isn’t resolved and follows her.  Will the bigotry continue?

Here are the links where it is available so far:
Amazon
Smashwords 

This week I also got my Braided Scarf pattern published in Happily Hooked Crochet magazine (issue 51).  If you want to check out the magazine, it’s available here.  The Braided Scarf is a gorgeous gray and purple sparkly yarn which turned out beautifully.  

I’m jumping up and down for joy but only for a little while because I still have work to do!  Crochet patterns to publish and post on Ravelry, edits to enter in the computer, and a long long list of projects to work on.  

Politicians and Insurance

by eileentroemel, posted in Life

One of the benefits I have is working for the state is supposed to have better benefits and insurance.  When I started working for the state, I never paid for anything. 

Since Act 10 was sent through, I’ve lost pay and benefits.  Last year when my husband and I both had health issues, I ended up with a couple thousand dollars of bills to pay.  Not enough to itemize on my taxes but very much a burden on our budget.  Now this year I went to the ER for a kidney stone.  It was my first one so I had no idea what was going on. 

I got the bill.  Next time I’m staying home and not paying for all the crap.  Again, I’ve been with the state since 2006.  In that time we’ve had to make trips to the ER.  This time I got a bill over and above my co-pay.  The co-pay I believe was $75.  The bill – was nearly $900.  Then I had to do a follow up with a doctor.  That cost me more money.  The doctor wanted me to come back for a second visit.  I set it up but really after I got the bills for the ER and doctor visits, I knew I could not afford another CT scan and doctor’s visit.  I canceled both.

I pay over $200 a month for my husband and I to have insurance.  Back when we were first together, we had insurance that was 80% /20% which meant for every medical thing the insurance paid 80% and we paid 20%.  We had three little kids.  Having this insurance drove us into bankruptcy because we had so many bills between the kids, my broken leg and three surgeries, and some of Ken’s stuff.  Now I’m looking at the same situation with my supposedly better benefits. 

I’m left thinking it’s better to stay home and cope with whatever the problems are rather than going to the doctor or to ER because the cost of it will drive us quickly into a place I don’t want to go.  My choice is to have this crappy insurance which I’m paying for every month and not go for more than checkups.  There’s now co-pays on everything. Beyond the co-pays, I’m getting bills for things the insurance isn’t covering.  There’s no money in the budget for this.  I’m still paying for last years medical bills. 

It’s no wonder the state can’t fill positions.  They’ve lost the edge of having better benefits and strong unions to protect the workers.  Now the state has become a crappy employer where the benefits are sub standard and the pay is mediocre.  It has become an employer who abuses their employees by calling them names and blaming them for the fiscal problems which are caused by mismanagement at the upper levels.  It’s no wonder they can’t get guards for the prisons or keep faculty in the universities or keep clerical workers.  Businesses are offering better everything with less abuse.

The politicians better wake up.  They better start looking at the good of their employees or they won’t be able to run the state.  I’d like to see the governor go into the prisons to be an officer or walk into a classroom and teach students.  I’d like to see our legislators spend 40 hours a week doing clerical work or maintenance or janitorial.  The politicians (on all levels) are great at looking out for them but they suck at looking out for the best interests of the people – which should be their biggest concern.

It’s time to wake up and remember that this is a collaborative affair.  The politician govern at the will of the people.  If they aren’t serving the people, they need to go.  Whatever elections are out there, please go vote.  Please voice your opinion and make yourself heard. 

Long Weekend

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life, Writing

Three days off was nice but it makes for an odd start to the week.  It’s Tuesday already and I feel like I’m behind but I’m not. 

The weekend was busy.  Vicki and I did the errands.  This included grocery shopping, visit to the butcher, Walmart, Aldis, and Hobby Lobby.  We grabbed lunch on the run and took it home.  This was all on Saturday.  Sunday we spent the morning doing food prep.  I repackaged a bunch of stuff for lunches and breakfasts.  Monday I made fruit salad and finished the few things we missed on Sunday. 

On the writing front, I wrote a little since finishing the last novel.  I did get through a paper edit of Wayfarer Evolution and started a paper edit of Wayfarer Resolve.  Monday morning I managed to get some publishing done (see previous post). 

I figured out what I want to do for goody bags for the event in November.  I started crocheting coasters.  I have ten done of the hundred I’ll need.  Fortunately, it’s a quick pattern.  I plan to expand the pattern into a shawl and make one for the gift basket I’ll send in for the raffle. 

My neighbor stopped over and wanted some more books.  I gave her three more.  I hope she enjoys them.  She started with Secret Past.  She said she’s not a fan of science fiction and most of mine are in that genre so I’ll see whether she continues to read my books. 

I’ve got a list of crocheting I want to get done.  I still need to upload several patterns to Ravelry.  I’m hoping I’ll have time to do that next weekend.  My to do list got things crossed off but not nearly as much as I would have liked. 

Ken worked on the patio we are putting in.  With the temps being over 90, he got some done but it was too hot for that kind of work.  Hopefully this next weekend he will be able to get more done.  I sat outside for a while but the bugs and the heat drove me back inside.

New Crochet Patterns Published and a Free Short Story

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life, Writing

It’s been a busy weekend.  Saturday was errands and shopping.  Sunday was food prep (though there will more of that today).  Today I’ve been working on publishing some of my crochet patterns.  I had lost one of the patterns for my Coverall Bibs and last night I found it!  I had actually hand written it – unusual for me because I normally do them on my phone.

This morning I sat down to my computer and got to work on publishing some of the patterns.  Here’s a run down of them.

Coverall Bibs

Two patterns for large bibs to cover the entire front of a baby or alternatively use as a super cape.

Messy babies need a bib to cover all of their shirt.  These two patterns create a large bib to protect the entire front of baby.  Bonus!  Toddlers can use these as super kid capes! Made with crochet cotton these are easily washed and very durable.  A small project easily made in an evening.
Point of No Return Cap
Need a warm cap?  Two skeins of yarn and a couple hours will net you a lovely cap.
Caron Simply Soft Party is a soft and warm yarn with a bit of sparkle.  Used to create this hat, it creates a lovely and warm hat for any occasion.  This pattern works up quickly allowing you to make a lovely hat in an evening.
Simple Set
Is it cold out?  Here’s a hat and scarf set which works up fast and is soft and beautiful.
Made with a large hook and chunky soft yarn, this hat and scarf set is the perfect pattern for a beginner.  It works up quickly and creates a soft, beautiful scarf and hat.
Links for purchasing will be available on my website
I’m also running a free book on Smashwords.  Use this code to get the short story for free DF76F