Booksbydiedra's Blog

The New Year

Diedra — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:04:10 +0000

Well, the new year is in full swing now, as is my job hunt. I have applied at many places, some local, some not. I am trying to get a GS job. I suppose time shall tell.

In the mean time, I still have other work to do. I have columns to write for the local paper, work to do on my novels and a host of other things.

Interviews

Diedra — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 21:27:13 +0000

This week has been a bit of a strain. The big article in the paper, the two radio interviews and now I am at the book signing at Hastings. It’s almost time for me to pack up, get paid and get out of here to see about taking my son trick or treating tonight as well. I have been able to post a recording of the first radio interview on my website, www.holleybooks.com, under the announcments tab. The recording for the second one will be there by day’s end, I hope. Until I get a few minutes to sit and type again, have fun, stay safe and BE GREEN!

Too busy for my own good

Diedra — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:19:43 +0000

Wow, sorry it has been so long since I posted last folks. Things have been…well….off lately. As most of you know, I was laid off from my job near the end of September. The day after the layoff, I moved out of Killeen and back to my hometown of Abilene. I am trying to find a job here, but the pickins are mighty slim, if you can find anything at all.

Since my arrival in Abilene, I have had a large article posted about my green book in the Abilene Reporter News (Wed, Oct 26), I have two radio interviews today, a book signing at the local Hastings tomorrow and I am writing a column for the same paper starting Monday, the 31st. Needless to say, things have been a little hectic. I turned in the event details to two of the local TV stations as well though I have yet to see it mentioned. Of course, I haven’t been watching either. I have been cleaning house, writing columns, job hunting and taking care of Connor the best I can.

I thought being out of work would be a little more relaxing. I thought wrong, lol.

I didn’t mind being out of work in the beginning, but it’s starting to get to me now. I do get unemployment checks, but they aren’t much when you put them next to bills and groceries. My dad has been wonderful since we moved back. He’s been supportive and very helpful with everything. I send them through him before they go to the paper for submission. Can’t have too many editors.

Connor is loving school now, something he never did before. He really seems to be enjoying it here in Abilene. I am thankful for that, I was really worried about it.

So, things are going, and things are going ok. With Halloween/Samhain right about the corner, most of us are thinking about Christmas/Yule already. Everyone take care and have a safe and happy holiday season. I have no idea when I will be back up here, but I will sometime.

For those that don’t have them, I have posted links below: (This blog is posted in many places so I will just post all of my links)

My article in the Killeen Daily Herald: http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=39168&q=Diedra+Holley

My article in the Abilene Reporter News: http://www.reporternews.com/news/2011/oct/25/local-author-diedra-holley-shares-advice-on/

My facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/DDHolley

My twitter page: http://twitter.com/#!/booksbydiedra

My wordpress blog: www.booksbydiedra.wordpress.com

I will add links to the weekly columns as they are published too.

See ya later folks!

I have noticed

Diedra — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 03:48:03 +0000

So I have noticed in the last week that I have done absolutely no writing on any of the books or stories I have started. Odd? Not really, at least not lately. The pattern I have seen emerging is that I am spending more time watching all 55 episodes of Missing and reading books or articles on ‘how to find an agent’, ‘how to market efficiently’ or something of the sort than I am writing the books. I really need to stop this. I have to get the books completed before I can do any of the stuff I am reading about.

I also am having a hard time concentrating while writing with my son running around. I love him to death, but I just can’t concentrate on the writing with him. When I stop what I am doing to spend some time with him, then it’s never enough, he wants 100% of my attention 100% of the time. UGH. Talk about a balancing act!

FOCUS!!!!!

Back to work

Diedra — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 20:05:45 +0000

Last month, for my birthday, my dad bought me a new laptop. I really needed it. Thanks, Dad. Unfortunately, when I hooked my iPad to the new laptop, I did a sync instead of a Transfer Purchases from iPad. This resulted in me losing all of my books! At least I thought I lost them. Luckily, I was able to find backups and emails of them I had sent out previously. Now that I have my iPad back up to speed book-wise, I can get back to my passion, writing. I have been away from writing long enough that I am going to have to sit down and re-read the book I plan to work on. I thought I could just read the last few paragraphs and pick up where I left off, not so much. This is what I found:

***

“Hello again Central Texas. We’re still following deliberation in the case of the man accused of shooting Sergeant Vincent Travinsky of the Dallas Police Department. It’s been 4 days now and no word from the jury. Sources close to the case have said there is talk of a hung jury. If that were to happen, a mistrial would be called, but the case could be tried again.”

***

“Hagen, I think I found something. Come here.”

Hagen headed to his partner’s desk. “Look here, these two pictures. Something look off to you?”

“Yeah, now that you mention it. These are the same guy, right?” Princeton pointed at a man in his late teens in each picture.

“Looks like it to me, but here is the interesting part. This guy got married a long time ago.”

“So?”

“So, if these two pictures actually are the same person, then we have a serious issue.”

“Talk sense. What are you talking about?”

“The guy in this picture is James Ratlin”

“Yeah, I know.”

“The guy in the other picture is Jim Quinton.”

Hagen looked back and forth between the two pictures for a long moment. “Holy shit!”

***

Now, even knowing what I know about the book that the public doesn’t, this really doesn’t give me much to go on. So now I sit down to re-read my book from the beginning, take notes and hope I get a stroke of genius as I read through it. Wow, never thought I would be reading my book to find out what has happened. lol

I am also looking to get into to editing. With no formal education on the subject, I am going to have to depend on my skill to break into the market. It won’t be easy, but I am confident I can do it.

June updates

Diedra — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:10:07 +0000

Here we are at the end of June and I can happily say I made the first round of cuts. That just means I have a job until the next round of cuts are issued. I am both relieved and disappointed. I don’t want to be laid off, but with all the stuff going on at work, layoff is sounding better and better everyday. Since I am a single income household, I really can’t afford to be laid off, unemployment is not going to pay me what I make now. However, it would certainly be nice to stay home and concentrate on writing and publishing! Not so exciting.

I have completed the rough draft of the intro and first story in MAKAROV. It will be going out soon for the other stories to be written by others. Exciting!

I am at a bit of a standstill with FIVE DAYS because I can’t seem to write anymore of the story until the restructuring is completed. My dad is coming to visit for the long weekend and I am hoping we can work on the restructuring then. So, with any luck, I will be back to story writing by Tuesday of next week. Exciting!

I have recently been asked to write an article for Envirogadget.com. They liked some of my ideas and agreed to put a bio and book link at the end of the article. That will be one more thing to put on my writer’s resume. Exciting!

I am currently sitting at the Nissan dealership getting the tint removed from my front two windows so I can pass state inspection. The tint was too dark when I bought it, but I didn’t know that. No, I am not paying for the removal, but they are going to charge me to install new tint. Not so exciting.

So, just another run of the mill month for me I suppose, other than turning 38, nothing has really changed.

The cuts

Diedra — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 21:55:27 +0000

I have been talking about the government contract I work on for a little bit now. Today, we had a meeting on the future of saod contract. Bottom line: the first round of cut letters goes out today. We don’t know who is getting them, I think they do, but they aren’t telling us. Now we get to wait around for the day to see who gets the letters and their two week notice.

Oddly enough, I am not apprehensive. If they cut me, they cut me. I won’t be happy about it, but I really don’t think I will be upset either. I have yet to find another job, but I am looking.

If that wasn’t bad enough, we were told the second round of cuts will be very close on the heels of the one today. That means making it through today doesn’t really mean much since I could be cut on the next round.

I would love to be able to stay home and write, don’t get me wrong, but while I am writing and waiting for publications and such, I still need a way to pay rent, buy food, pay the car note and insurance and pay for the few other bills I have.

All in all, today is a crappy day, even If I don’t get cut. It really takes the wind out of your sails when you have something like this hanging over your head. The tension is palpable here in the workplace. There is a lot of talk, a lot of attitude and even some tears of fear on the part of some of those who think they know they are on the chopping block. As I said, I am surprisingly unmoved and detached at this point. It won’t make a difference either way, so I suppose I will just wait and see how things go.

Starting anew

Diedra — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 02:50:24 +0000

Alright, I completed the class I was in and made a 94. I only needed an 80 to pass so it looks like the mission was a success.

Now on to better things.

The book idea that snuck up on me halfway through the class is now down on paper. My dad is doing what I call “running the calculations.”. All the necessary algorithms and equations are in progress for MAKROV. Once the equations are proofed and the family is online , this project should be on the move.

Meanwhile, TARGETED is at a standstill for a bit while I get things back on track.

FIVE DAYS, formerly titled GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY, will get some attention this weekend. I am doing laundry tonight so I will have time to devote to it. I am working on the restructuring and continuing the story. It is going to take some time though.

I can’t do anything with IN OVER HER HEAD until FIVE DAYS is done as it is a sequel and I don’t quite know how things are going to turn out yet.

There are other books waiting in the queue in my head, but they are going to have to wait.

Last day

Diedra — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:13:58 +0000

Ok, so today is the last day of class for me. Start the final exam at 0930, break for lunch at 1130, back at 1230, turn in exams at 1400.

I am not anxious, but I tend to feed off the emotions of others and two of my neighbors are wound so tight they can’t sit still. It will be a challenge to keep their emotions lut of my head whi.e concentrating on the exam. I have to make an 80% or better to get certified, shouldn’t be an issue. Yesterday we had a Practical Exercise that covered everything we have done. I made a 98 on it. The two points knocked off were for putting the date on the right side of the signature on a form instead of the left side. Go figure.

All this means I can start rereading my book tonight and perhaps even getting some writing done. Unfortunately, I do still have to go to work tomorrow, that bites. Why couldn’t they have ended class on Friday? I know, too much logic.

Either way, off I go to class to take my final exam.

Wasted time

Diedra — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:22:21 +0000

I have been writing for a few years now, and I have learned a few things about myself in the process. The first of which is that when I write, it is all-consuming. I don’t mean that lightly either. IF I get a chance to concentrate on writing, it becomes the only thing I think about. I am being the detective and asking my characters, witnesses and victims to find out what the story is so I can write it. Normally this means I am sitting in an FBI interrogation room with the subject of my line of questioning. Once I am in that little room, I forget about real life. Literally. I forget I need to cook dinner, go to bed, get up for work the next day, or anything else for that matter. I also learned I do a complete brain dump on anything BUT the book I am writing. This means everything I am doing in real life goes the way of the round file.

Right now, my company has me in troop school and I am required to pass with a minimum score of 80% to get certified on this particular system. In a nutshell, this means I can’t work on any of my books while I am in class, if I do, I do the brain dump and forget everything I learned in class. This would not be good. (Now I am not talking about writing while in the classroom, I mean I can’t write during any part of the days I am in class, not evening, weekends, or anything else.)

So…since I can’t work on a book, even over the weekend, my brain was bubbling with creative juices. Forcing myself NOT to sit down at the laptop was hard enough, but then my brain got sneaky and tried to trick me.

“Hey, here’s a new book idea. Make sure you write it down so you don’t forget it.”

Naturally, I wrote down the idea, called my Dad and started discussing it with him, and started writing highlight notes as I went, right here on my iPad. Before long, my Dad said, “Now don’t start writing this now….”

At that point my fingers froze. I was doing just that. Luckily, since I was on the phone with him, I hadn’t gone into my full concentration mode, so no brain dump, but that was the next step.

WHEW!

So now I have the book that’s out, Going Green Without Going Broke, the main one I am writing, Five Days, the next book in that set, In Over Her Head, another one on the back burner Dad and I have done some collaborative work on, Targeted, and now this new idea I am calling Makrov, until I find a better name.

I feel like I am wasting two weeks of my life in this class. Not that the class won’t look good on my contractor’s resume, because it will, but because I can’t write anything for this entire two weeks!

It’s going to take years to get all these books out of my head. Let’s not forget the books I started years ago, like “Susan” and “King Mishent” that never made it out of the first few chapters….

It’s going to be a push to get all these words out of my head in time to publish them all before I die…..but I like it that way.

Happy Writing!