What else!?

Okay, so I owe a blog. I'm sure something witty and engaging and entertaining would be good, right?
Wellll... have you got a minute so I can explain why it ain't gonna happen?

See, last week I finally finished my first urban fantasy, SERVANT: The Awakening, written under L.L. Foster - www.llfoster.com - and I sent it off to my editor. (I LOVE that cover, and especially the stepback!)

To celebrate the completion of that very new venture, my husband, two little dogs, and I went to Cumberland Falls. The weather was divine, and this early in the year we were literally the only people in the motel that sits only 1/2 mile from the falls.
Cool, huh?
My husband and I have settled for 2 day trips a lot lately. A week long vacation just isn't possible, not for a little while. Since we LOVE the outdoors, it works for us.

I was only away for 2 days, but yep, that put me mega behind.

So now I need to do this blog, and I also have two sets of proofs sitting here for me to read.
Proofs are the final view of a book before it goes into print. It's that crucial moment where I have to read very, very closely and try to catch all the tiniest mistakes, because if I don't, readers will, and they'll be sure to tell me about them. (That's okay, I love it when readers write to me for any reason. Honest!)
But see, considering I've read these books... oh, about 10 times now, it's tough to see the mistakes.

One proof is for "SIMON SAYS," my July single title with Berkley - a follow-up book to "CAUSING HAVOC." It's around 500 manuscript pages.

The other is the proof for "I'M YOUR SANTA," an October anthology out with Kensington Brava. This is the story related to the brothers in "TOO MUCH TEMPTATION" and "NEVER TOO MUCH." (It's Beth, Kent's daughter, and now Ben's step sister.)

Both are due back any second now.

When I need to read proofs, I sit in my king sized bed - with my two little dogs, who love it when I have proofs to read - and my red erasable pen, and I put on my super-strong specs.
I try to be meticulous. I try to catch everything.
Honestly I do.
It's tough.
Last night at 12:30, my vision fuzzed enough that I finally gave up and figured I'd finish them first thing in the morning. Ha!
At 5 am this morning, I heard my son (my youngest) up with my grandson, who had just woke up with a fever and a good hurl. Yuck.

I don't know too many moms who can stay in bed while their baby is dealing with his sick baby.
I can't.
Wait. It gets better.
Last night, before I went to bed, I spoke with my middle son about a dozen times. See, he has a sinus infection that spread to his bronchial tubes, and he's super sick and on heavy meds - and he's away at college where I can't baby him! He's 2 1/2 hours south of me!
Horrors. Of course he had tests to study for and a project to complete, and he works at a pizza place and refused to call in sick no matter how much I begged him to.

I also spoke with my oldest son, who lives 2 hours north of me in Columbus.
He's had the hiccups for about 2 weeks, non stop. Last night, it got so bad that he couldn't breathe. I insisted, as only a mother can to a 25 year old very independent man, that he go to the ER.
He ended up there mostly overnight, on a Thorazine drip.
I looked up Thorazine. (I'm a mom, what can I say!?)

Thorazine is used for the treatment of schizophrenia (severe disruptions in thought and perception). It is also prescribed for the short-term treatment of severe behavioral disorders in children, including explosive hyperactivity and combativeness; and for the hyperenergetic phase of manic-depressive illness (severely exaggerated moods).
Thorazine is also used to control nausea and vomiting, and to relieve restlessness and apprehension before surgery. It is used as an aid in the treatment of tetanus, and is prescribed for uncontrollable hiccups and acute intermittent porphyria (attacks of severe abdominal pain sometimes accompanied by psychiatric disturbances, cramps in the arms and legs, and muscle weakness).

Wow. Heavy-duty drug for hiccups!
But guess what? It worked!
Yay. One son now feeling very tired at work, but no longer hiccuping himself into a choke.
More good news, the grandbaby woke back up and seemed to feel much better. Still a small fever, but no more vomiting.

Even better, my middle son says the meds are finally kicking in and he almost feels human. He sailed through his tests, and has his project almost done.

Did I tell you that my middle son is getting married?
Yeah, this summer, to a girl I LOVE so it's all good. They have one more year of college, but they make excellent decisions, so marriage won't get in their way.
I'm thrilled.

Back to work-related stuff...
Have I mentioned that I'm organizing a few books for charity?
If so, ignore this part.

This June, my good friend Dianne Castell and I, will have our annual "Reader & Author Get Together."
(There's info on my website at http://www.lorifoster.com/ - under the community link. Everyone is welcome to attend!)
For 07, we'll also sell a cookbook with recipes donated by over 9o authors and some readers, and all proceeds will go to 1) The buying and shipping of goods to the troops, and if we end up making really good money and need to expand then 2) to another worthwhile cause, like the Animal Adoption Foundation, or Hospice, etc...

The book is: "THE WRITE INGREDIENTS: Recipes from Your Favorite Authors."
Most of the Quills donated recipes too!

Anyway, the contract for that needed tweaking, so I spoke at length with my agent this morning, emailed back and forth several times, and she got some super nice things altered for me.

At the June event in 08, (yeah, working more than a year ahead on this stuff!) we'll have a romance anthology with 12 authors taking part. That book is titled "THE POWER OF LOVE," (don't have a cover yet - it's a June 08 release) and all proceeds are donated to the local Battered Women's Shelter.

Now, if you don't think it takes a lot of time and effort to coordinate with 11 other authors (all of whom I hand picked cuz I LOVE their work) then you need to come visit me and take a look at my piles of organization efforts.

The June event, currently in full-swing preparation, is something that Dianne and I do to thank sister authors and supportive readers. We cover costs on everything but the food, which is only $35 & includes a Friday night pizza party, a Saturday continental breakfast and a very nice buffet lunch, all with drinks.

For a 3 day event with two editors, two agents, and around 50 authors, that's a steal! (All of the info on the editors & agents is also on my site, under the community link.)
It's also a LOT of work.
Every morning, when I can fit it in, I log in registrations, sort payments, send special messages to authors, sign attendees up for the announce-only email loop, gather my volunteers (wonderful volunteers!) do publicity, etc...

Every day, there's at least 10 questions about the event.
I don't mind - but it does take time.

Back to more business...
Last night, before I started reading my proofs for "SIMON SAYS," I had to approve a very cool video trailer for the book. It's awesome, and with any luck, it'll be on my site April 1st.
But I changed the music 3 times.
Lots of back and forth emails with a SUPER nice person who went above and beyond to get it just as I wanted it.
Then I had to email it to my webdesigner, with yet more updates for April. And in between that time, I got several emails from readers wanting to know when I'd update. (I smile over this! I LOVE it that readers are anxious for more information!)
I update every single month.
And since I have 10 - yep, TEN books out this year, including reissues - there are always updates to be done. I can only get so much accomplished in a day, ya know?
(BTW, I almost always have 8 to 10 books out in a year. Crazy huh?)

This morning (after the grandbaby and my son managed to get back to bed) I mailed off 9 ARCs (Advanced Reviewers Copies of bound, uncorrected proofs) of "SIMON SAYS" to some favorite people who are always supportive and kind.

(Can you see me wilting?)

I did a run to the post office.
Then a run to the bank.
Brought home several letters from readers, some more registrations, and some requests for bookmarks.
I got all that done - barely. Then I had a gazillion more emails, and some questions on a special promo thing I want to do with Romance Designs where they send out a newsletter in the hero's pov, along with a phtograph of my idea for his looks.
That photo is TOUGH. No one really looks as good as I envision Simon, except Bas Rutten and I doubt he wants me to steal his photo. So for some insane reason, I spent over an hour of time I didn't really have looking at photos, before resigning that chore to another day.

If you' d like to receive Simon's letter, and other letters from my other heroes, you can sign up at http://romancedesigns.com

I also got a lovely email from a contributor to our local paper, letting me know that she mentioned me, yet again, in her blog.
http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/litchick
I definitely plan to post a reply to the blog, but I have to find the time first.

Oh yeah, some other fun things I'm working on!
A section in my Cafepress store for the Quills! http://www.cafepress.com/lorifoster

I started out making the stuff to include in a basket for a raffle, and then figured what the heck, I'll give 'em a whole section. Fun. I love my cafepress store and use the money made to either buy gifts for readers, or to donate. Either way, it's great!

And because I love playing on Myspace - I'm at: http://www.myspace.com/mostlymam - I volunteered to make a site for my published pan group.
Can't wait - but I'll have to... until I finish those proofs.
If you check out my Myspace page, the song playing is one of my all-time favorites ever, from Drowning Pool. Just awesome! I used that song a lot while writing "JAMIE." I always use songs to help me write. For "SIMON SAYS," it was Undone, by KORN.
LOVE it!

Okay, enough rambling from me. I have to finish reading those proofs (can you tell that it is NOT one of my favorite chores?) do a dedication to a really incredible fighter, Mike "the Quick" Swick, call the dentist, finish writing this blog (I bet you're saying: hurry up already!) and finish finalizing all the promo stuff that goes hand in hand with publishing.
I hope none of you thought we JUST wrote books!

So how many different things are you working on right now?
Is your life as crazy-busy as mine?
Do you - like me - make it crazy, even when you don't mean to!?

Because of all the stuff I try to keep track of day in and day out, my memory is so bad that I've created a button for myself that says: "That's okay, I don't remember your name either."
Do you, like me, have so much little stuff jammed into your brain that you can no longer remember anything else?
Lastly, when your kids (or grandbabies) get sick, does it blow you right out of the water so that you can barely focus on anything else? I figure even when my sons are in their 40s, I'll be just as bad. I guess a mom is always a mom. :::sigh:::

Happy reading everyone! (The Elmo is for my grandson - he loves him some Elmo!)