Category Archives: Personal
A little quiet here in Casa Cameron
Sorry for the radio silence. I’ve spent the last couple of days watching the news about the Orlando shooting and having what I will politely term as “discussions” with people about why AR-15s do not belong in civilian hands. A word of warning; if you are someone who does believe that we all need assault weapons because of the people’s militia/Second Amendment/gotta protect myself from the government, please go away. I’m not interested in your Founding Father gun porn dreams about “good guys with guns.” And I will delete any comments to that effect.
While I didn’t lose a friend or loved on in the shooting in Orlando early Sunday morning, I do have friends who live there, ones whom I wasn’t sure hadn’t been at the club until they all checked in later that day. That is a sensation I would not wish on anyone. I can’t even imagine how it must have felt for the family members and friends who did have someone who had gone to Pulse that night, who were still waiting to find out whether or not that person was alive or dead.
49 of those families are now facing the task of burying a loved one. Claiming the body and arranging for a funeral is bad (and expensive) enough, but there’s all the other stuff that happens after someone you love dies. Cleaning out their home and trying to figure out what to do with their belongings. Finding a home for their pets. Closing out their social media accounts. Dealing with bill collectors wanting to know why the last credit card payment hadn’t been made (and suggesting that since you’re family, it’s your duty to take on that debt. Just so you know, you are not legally liable for a non-spousal loved one’s debt if you didn’t co-sign on it.)
These 49 families not only have to deal with all that, they have to deal with certain religious individuals (I won’t sully the title “pastor” by giving it to them) celebrating their loved one’s death and calling it “community service.” They have to deal with getting sucked into the ongoing debate about gun control. In a few cases, they have to deal with the fact that their loved one was gay and was too afraid to tell them.
I don’t even know where I’m going with this. All I know is that I’m sad and angry that 49 people were violently murdered by one small, vicious, self-hating person, and delighted as hell that Democratic representatives started shouting “Where’s the bill?” after yet another useless minute of silence, and that Democratic senators are even now filibustering in the Senate to demand new gun laws.
Sandy Hook. Virginia Tech. San Bernardino. Orlando.
Mass shootings like these don’t happen anymore in Canada, or Australia, or New Zealand, or the UK. They’ve got to stop here.
If you’re an American, please vote in November and help stop the next massacre before it happens.
Notes From House Ownership
Things certainly work in mysterious ways. The roofers finished putting on the new shingles yesterday (working in the rain, poor guys — I made sure to give them all big tips because that’s just miserable). Yesterday afternoon Ramón comes downstairs covered in sweat from being in his office and announces the A/C isn’t working. He popped into the attic, looked up the code displayed on the thingy and said the furnace isn’t getting power, so either the whole unit was borked or there was a short somewhere. While he was up in the attic he also noticed that a lot of dirt and crap got knocked down during the roofing work, and the cable leading to the now-removed satellite dish had fallen across the furnace. We dunno if that may have shorted something out, but we already knew that we were going to be replacing the furnace in April so I put in a call to our heating and A/C company to come out and see if they could get it working temporarily and give us a quote on a replacement.
Fast forward to this morning when the furnace guy came and did his thing. It was indeed a loose connection that caused the fan to stop working, most likely caused by the banging from the roofers, so he fixed that and everything was fine.
And then he gave us the quote for the new furnace. $2100. Which is about $3000 less than I was expecting. Apparently the quote we got five years ago was for a specific furnace that was the mate to the A/C system, but times change and the less expensive furnace is now what’s being recommended for the system so YAY because we already had that in savings and don’t have to take out a loan.
So the roof is finished, they also replaced the dead light bulbs in the entryway so we can actually turn the outside light on again, we’ll have a new furnace as of tomorrow, and the painter will come on Monday to estimate the leak damage in Ramón’s office and settle on a time to fix it. All we need now is to get the gutters and screens fixed, the new siding on the chimney, and the loose shutter refastened, and we are cooking with gas.
Next year, foundation repair and window replacement for sure, then we can finally get new flooring in this place, whee!
And The Corset Training Begins
So my lovely steel-boned corset from Orchard Corset arrived today, and I may have been squealing like a 6-year-old because, while I intend to cover it in a temporary skin of hologrammatic turquoise fish scales for costume purposes, it wound up going damn well with my costume color scheme as is. According to the website it’s grey, but it looks dark teal when put next to the costume fabrics, which is perfect for my needs. I was going to leave it in the scale skin for future costume events, but it’s just so pretty I may take it off so that I can wear it to other things.
Then again, I may not have to. Did I mention that corsets happen to be one of Ramón’s fetishes? When he found out he was going to have to lace me up daily so that the corset would be seasoned before RT2016, his eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. If I play my cards right, I may get some more of these in different colors over the coming months, tra la.
So anyway, we put it on. First off, I was absolutely delighted that it did indeed fit my heroically sized frame and that the modesty panel in back covered everything but an inch-wide gap. I’m not worried about that since it will be closed once the corset is properly seasoned.
(An aside — seasoning, or breaking in, a new steel bone corset is important because it allows the corset time to adjust to the shape of your body, reducing the chances of popped stitches or warped busks, and it also allows your body to adjust to the idea of compression. Satin corsets like these should be worn for a few hours each day for a week, while cotton or brocade corsets can take two weeks. For more information on seasoning, here’s a useful video from Orchard Corset.)
Secondly, I discovered that I need to pull this down just a tad because the waist is sitting a little high, which shoves my boobs up right under my chin. That being said, I was extremely impressed at how comfortable it was to wear. I could breathe, I wasn’t being uncomfortably pinched anywhere, and man did my posture improve. Also, I got one hell of a kiss from Ramón after he finished lacing me up.
Thirdly, I need to make sure I wipe all the dust off my mirrors before taking future pictures. That’s a NASA t-shirt under the corset, by the way. Gotta make sure my geek cred is current.
A Week of Alarums and Excursions
Well, that was fun! We had a rather torrential downpour here in the clavicle of Texas last weekend, which had me worried as I knew we’d lost a shingle off the front of the roof (we were in the process of looking for a good roofing company in the area).
As it turned out the single shingle loss didn’t result in a leak. The three shingles that apparently slid off the back of the roof, however, were another matter. This meter-long gap was right over the back of Ramón’s office, leading him to call me in on Tuesday morning and worriedly show me the rather impressive water stain on the vaulted ceiling. We went outside and marveled at the gaping hole in our rear shingles (read: “When the fuck did THAT happen???”), then I got stuck into expediting the roofing company search. After perusing the BBB website and other consumer report sites we settled on a company and they came out yesterday evening to take a look at the roof.
Yesterday morning, however, a rather nasty storm system was headed straight for our city. You should have seen me hovering over the laptop screen, watching the incremental approach of the storm on Weather Underground and chanting, “Go north, go, north, go NORTH” under my breath. The storm listened, thank Cthulhu, and wound up literally skimming the north side of our neighborhood. We got a few heavy raindrops, but that was it.
So the roofing guys came out, made friends with our Welcome Wagon cat Jemma, climbed on top of the roof for their inspection, and declared that yes, we did have wind and hail damage as well as shingle loss and some additional things that needed to be fixed, but they could handle it all easily in one day. They also asked if I wanted them to cover the holes temporarily, since there was more rain in the forecast today.
Yes, please, I said.
So they did, gave me a copy of their bonafides, and told me to call the insurance company and arrange for an inspector to come out and check out the damaged spots with them, after which they’d arrange for payment and fix the roof. I called said insurance company this morning and had a chat with a very nice woman who was sympathetic about the situation and said that it sounded like it was covered by our policy (21-year-old roof that may well be original to the house, no prior claims, hell yes it’s covered) minus the wind and hail damage deductible. Said deductible is reasonable and we have it in savings, so no grousing there. She generated a claim number for us and said the inspector would call us by end of day Monday to arrange an inspection with us and Chris, the owner of the roofing company.
So that’s that and I’m very pleased that 1) I adulted successfully, and 2) the gaping hole over Ramón’s office will not be leaking in case it rains. And once this has been resolved, it’s time to call the HVAC company and get them to come replace our 21-year-old furnace before it completely packs in (since it runs the fan that powers the A/C, this is not something we can leave until fall). It’ll be nice not to worry about the roof for a few years or the A/C going tits up during the summer. But man, I’m gonna have to write a buttload of sexy fiction to replenish our savings, not to mention paying for the foundation repair we need next year.
Who Am I, And What Did I Do With Myself?
Because DAMN, I woke up productive today. Got the car safety inspection knocked out at the same time as the oil change, stopped off at Sprouts and got healthy stuff for lunch and dinner, came home and balanced my checkbook, filed all unfiled personal and business receipts in preparation for tax work this week, paid all the bills including the mortgage, filed THAT paperwork, and put away all the swag bag makings and cleaned off my design desk (granted, my office still needs to be cleaned, dusted, and vacuumed, but I figure I can do that tomorrow). I even have laundry from Wild Wicked Weekend churning through the machines and posted a thank you in the FB group for the awesome organizers and attendees.
In other words, it’s amazing what happens when your perimenopausal uterus eventually gets its shit in gear and generates a period, which means that all the excess water you’ve been storing like a good little camel finally, FINALLY begins to drain away. And yes, that’s TMI, but I’ve had serious-ass cankles going on since the 21st, look like Ms. Michelin Man in all the pics from the weekend, and had to keep taking naps so that I didn’t wind up snoozing on one of the ballroom tables. The human uterus is proof positive that there is no Divine Engineer because no tech worth their salt would come up with an organ that wreaks this much havoc on the rest of the body.
Anyway, yeah, feeling better and am working up a plan of attack for the rest of the week which will include much writing, getting the taxes ready for our lovely accountant, and as much cleaning as I can handle without falling over and crying. Onward to March!
(Oh, and yes, I watched the Oscars last night. Stunning wins by Mark Rylance and Brie Larson, mystifying win by Sam Smith, and I absolutely loved all the snarking going on.)
And now the running around like a headless chicken begins
I’m leaving for Wild Wicked Weekend early Thursday morning, and before then I have to pay bills, make sure all my clothes are clean, plan outfits (including something appropriate for the visit to the Lair), pack said outfits, put together a hundred swag bags, go get wine and chocolate for the gift basket I’m donating, put together the gift basket, get my hair cut, load all luggage, giveaways, and books into the car, and print out a map for getting to the hotel. An oil change before then would probably be a good idea, too (for the car, not me. Seriously, people).
Writing? Yeah, right. Maybe when I get down there, but I’ve given myself permission to spend the next two days running around like a headless chicken trying to get everything squared away. Crap, I need to get wet kitty food for the J Crew as well. Thank Cthulhu I have my nifty new planner for all of this!
In the meantime, Ramón is spending his last week of freedom working on computer stuff and writing before he starts his new contract job on Monday. I have to admit, the thought of money coming into the house again will make this weekend much more relaxing and enjoyable.
So, yeah, that’s my day so far. Hope yours is more relaxing.
A More Productive Me
As a writer, one of the draws about being a panelist at a science fiction convention is the conversation you get with various people in the bar. I’ve gotten story ideas, prompted story ideas, laughed my ass off numerous times, been unexpectedly complimented (frex, today I was told that I was a badass knitter and my dollhouses were baller), and have gotten some damned good advice.
This weekend was no different. Not only did I have a number of fun conversations with various folks over the weekend, I also had a very, VERY useful discussion with bestselling romance author Sidney Bristol about promotion, organization, and how to turn my treadmill into a functional walking desk. She warned me that she absolutely hated writing at hers, but it was a good way to get in some movement and crank out wordage. It appears that I will be cutting wood tomorrow and creating a desk that can sit across the gripper bars while I trudge along. This will be interesting.
Also interesting was her awesome day planner and how it helped organize her life. I’ve tried using the calendar and To Do function in Outlook for that sort of thing, but I’ve also noticed that I’ll let things fall by the wayside, whereas if I have things written out on a physical calendar I’m much better about doing them. So I’ve ordered the amazing Day Designer Flagship 2016 Mini Edition, as the full-sized one was sold out, and when it arrives I’m going to start keeping track of all the things I’m supposed to be doing and work on being far more professional with my time. Because I’m getting old, you see, and I just can’t keep all of this stuff in my noggin anymore. Plus there’s the whole “write a buttload of things, get them out there, and make a living wage off them” thing that I’d really like to make a reality this year. Every year since 2012 I’ve been getting more and more successful with my writing — I’ve established my brand, you wonderful people like reading my stuff, and I’ve demonstrated that I can sell as a hybrid author. Now I really want to kick things into high gear and start turning the writing dodge into something that can support me (and ideally both myself and Ramón at some point in the future).
In other news, the sinus infection seems to be waning, knock wood. I still feel the sinus symptoms, but my mood has improved mightily and so has my energy levels. Remember, folks, neti pots with distilled or boiled and filtered water really do work.
Could Someone Just Scoop Out My Sinuses, Thanks
Oy. You may remember that I wound up catching a cold while in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. Despite my best efforts it appears to have left a juicy little sinus infection in its wake.
Before I get besieged by remedies et al., I’ve gotten these often enough to know what to do. The mucus is yellow (it actually bears a noticeable resemblance to lemon curd), not green, which means it’s a viral infection rather than a bacterial one so antibiotics won’t do a blessed thing. I’m using antihistamines, Mucinex to thin the mucus, and aspirin to fight the sinus pain. I’m also using a neti pot to rinse out my sinuses, a steroid inhaler to help reduce swelling, and I’m sleeping with a humidifier next to the bed. Right now the only truly useful thing I can do is drink a boatload of water, rest, and wait it out.
Not like I have any other options, as this opportunistic infection is draining my energy like you would not believe. I went food shopping yesterday and felt like I was slogging through mud. Ramón sent me off to bed around 7:30 PM — I woke up 12 hours later and didn’t feel better at all. And I have all this lovely writing to do, if I could just kick my ass into gear instead of staring blearily at the screen and wishing mightily to take a nap.
But these books aren’t going to write themselves, so I may as well get cracking. If you hear pathetic coughing in the corner, be kind and send over a hot toddy, thanks.
Money Making Methods for the Modern Erotic Romance Author
Or me, in other words. I love writing, love my books, ADORE my readers to bits, and I’m very glad that my income is going up every year. But it’s still not what I would call a living wage, and so I subsidize my writing income with my other love — making stuff. Usually jewelry, but that also includes knitted and crocheted items, character dolls, and pretty much anything else that comes together on my workbench.
That jewelry that I usually offer on release days and FB parties? The stuff from Belaurient Arts? Yeah, that’s mine, and rather proud of it I am, too. And to ward off any complaints of, “Why are you making jewelry or knitting stuff when you should be writing?” be aware that doing this other stuff is actually part of my writing practice because while I’m beading a necklace or wire wrapping a cabochon or knitting a shawl I’m also telling myself stories to keep myself entertained, which then gets used when I sit at the keyboard.
Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh, yeah — a few days ago a friend of mine sent me a large wodge of jewelry odds and ends from his late mother’s belongings. (I love it when people do that. So far I’ve have three friends say, “I’ve got a buttload of beads and stuff that I’ll never use — you want them?” Why, yes, yes I do, thank you very much.) This particular treasure trove delivered some adorably kitschy items, one graduated bead necklace that I think is jade (it passes most of the surface tests but I’ll need to do a density test for sure), some nice 70’s style vintage earrings, and a bunch of odds and ends that have been tucked away in my racks of jewelry bits for future use. I was really, REALLY happy when I found these silver filigree clip-on earrings. Their rhinestones were long gone, but luckily my favorite rock and gem store have a very nice selection of rhinestones and I was able to reset them with capri blue square stones that look fabulous against the silver.
The other set that I was very pleased with was a pair of horn Celtic knots. They’d been wired with dull goldish beads through the knotholes, but the wire was steel and didn’t go with the warm tones of the horn at all. So I cut those off, drilled four holes in each necklace for gold eye pins (let me take a moment to thank Dremel for their awesome products which make this jewelry designer’s life a lot easier), wired up six 6mm tiger’s eye beads with fancy head pins and gold spacer beads, added those to the eye pins, hung everything on gold French ear wires, et voila — awesome earrings for people who like Celtic or tribal jewelry, natural materials, tiger’s eye, or any combination thereof. These would be perfect for someone who goes to Burning Man, I suspect.
So after putting a bunch of new pretties up at the Etsy site, I was rewarded with two sales of a combined five items, the payment for which goes into my How Nicola Is Going To Pay For RT Fund. And I still have to put a sterling silver and 14K gold tree of life pendant and a really nifty blue and bronze beaded necklace up tomorrow, as well. And then figure out where I’m going to get the stuff I need for a density test. And work on Cross Current, of course.
Speaking of the HNIGTPFRT Fund, Empress of Storms racked up a total of $514 dollars as of this evening, and if the current pattern holds true I may make $1K on it by the end of its first quarter. Not too shabby for a self-pubbed book in a genre I’d never tackled before, eh? Now if I could only sell the movie rights to Peter Jackson…
Update on To Do List
Since I know you’re fascinated. Also, I have to say that the Shark steam mop does a bang-up job on cleaning Pergo flooring. Also also, as of 6:59 PM CST I’ve walked 5,248 steps according to my Fitbit.
Photograph lots of new jewelry, put on Etsy site– done. Also, I’m running a 30% off sale this weekend with coupon code 30PERCENTOFF so if you still need stocking stuffers go on over.- Pay bills and balance checkbook – probably do this tonight.
- Finish manuscript editing for a friend
- Finish video editing for another friend
- Haul all the laundry upstairs and put it away – in progress.
- Clean the house from top to bottom – in progress. The library and stairs are sparkling, and now I’m swamping out the dining room.
- Put up Christmas decorations – to be done once the library and dining room are clean, probably tomorrow.
- Finish Behind the Iron Cross, get off to agent
- Finish Cross Current, get off to Evernight
- Do ebook/paperback cover for client, format book interior
- Update website for another client
- Make character doll for customer – got the check for this, so it begins tomorrow night.
Do food shopping, including cat food– done.- Rake leaves in front yard – it’s raining all weekend so this needs to be done next week.
Nicola Cameron Writes 