Mural Depicting Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in Tucson, AZ

I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to think. My last ghostwriting job was a long one, and I need a break. I’ve decided that after months of constant writing, I’m taking a week off. I need to get a few things done here at home.

Last Saturday, my daughter and son-in-law (Aimee and Chris) took John and me to Tucson for a day outing. First we visited the Persidio San Augustin del Tucson (a reconstructed fort). Then we took a short walk to see the monument dedicated to the 101st Infantry, Mormon Battalion. After that, it was lunch at Red Robin. (Don’t think I really wanted to eat again for a couple of days.) Then we went to the Container Store. Yea! Organization stuff. Just my cup of tea. On the way out of town, we stopped at Chris’ favorite Costco, but it was closed because of a water main break. We had to traipse back to a different Costco in Tucson. Finally, we arrived home just before dinnertime. All in all, it was a fun Mother’s Day outing, and I got to get a little information and some pictures for a future book possibility.

So now, I’m not writing for anybody for a few days, and I might even get to do some editing on my own work. I may even post a few chapters of another of my books to get any feedback my family and friends want to give me.

Mormon Battalion Sculpture at Tucson, AZ

Mission San Xavier del Bac

Hi, everybody.

It’s been so long since I posted that I lost my Facebook page for Booksbyliz.com, and I have to set it up again.

I’ve been very busy ghostwriting for people, as well as taking care of household requirements. I should be ghostwriting right now, too – or at least I should be doing research for the project due soon.

With a new project upon me, I’ve been doing research around Arizona. The photo above is Mission San Xavier del Bac near Tucson. It is one of the oldest missions in the state. Really beautiful inside, too. I’m considering this as a setting, and the mission shown below, which is Mission San Jose de Tumacacori near Nogales, AZ. That one is even older than the first one.

My new ghostwriting project is just a short story (8,000 words) set wherever I prefer. I like researching different locations.

I’ll try to be back on sooner from now on. And I hope to get some of my own editing done.

Mission San Jose de Tumacacori, AZ

Five Years in the Making

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Above is the cross-stitch that I started 5 years ago for my daughter Mandie. She’s been so patient. When floaters in my eyes delayed my sewing (I couldn’t see around them sometimes), she bought me a pair of magnifying glasses for Christmas this year. The first thing I did was finish her project.

I haven’t had much time for posting here for quite a while. Ghostwriting kept me quite busy. One of my resolutions this year is to make it a habit of posting here, just as my daughter Aimee posts on her website. Well, maybe not every day like Aimee does, but more often than whenever I get around do it.

Another resolution is to get at least two books online. It’s been way too long since I’ve done that. I just haven’t had time, between ghostwriting and sewing and Christmas and Thanksgiving and everything else I’ve had going on.

With Mandie’s cross-stitch project done and my ghostwriting on hold, I hope to get a new book of my own edited and uploaded within the next couple of weeks. As soon as I say this, though, I’ll probably get another ghostwriting project, because that’s just how my luck runs. I would love that, but I’m far behind on my own work of getting out my books.

White Egret leaving our pond 1

Nothing like seeing a white egret in the middle of the desert.

I’m so excited!

Instead of ghostwriting something I’m not fond of, I get to ghostwrite a historical romance. Yea! This is my genre. To get to work on something I really love is great. This one is going to be set in northern California and will be a series of three.

I just finished most of my research for it, and I should be starting it either tonight or tomorrow morning. For some reason I had a Swedish/American heroine as the main character, but I don’t know why. We’ll see if I keep that or not.

Anyway, I just thought I’d write a little blurb while I had a minute.

Hope everybody has a good week.

Brown Canyon
Sierra Vista, AZ

What a long day to get to my ghostwriting today!

After hiking in Brown Canyon with my husband John and son-in-law Chris, I ran some errands with Chris. By the time I got home today, it was about 3:30. Then came the housecleaning I didn’t have time for this morning. Finally, I sat down to finish editing last week’s ghostwriting project.

By 5 p.m. I was at last on this week’s ghostwriting project. I finished it about 7:30. Now tomorrow I can do all I want to do and still get my project in on time.

Now it’s 8:30, and I’m just finishing watching The Amazing Race. I’m so ready for bed.

My hope is that I don’t have to push it next week for the last ghostwriting project in this series.

Double Rainbow
Sierra Vista, AZ

I must say that this week has been more non-productive than past weeks.

I got a lot of ghostwriting done, but it was crazy because of WiFi issues. Now that my son-in-law installed a new router for me, things are working nicely. I need to thank Chris again.

This project is trying for me. Usually, my ghostwriting stays in the historical or suspense romance genre, but I’ve spread my wings into a new sub-genre. I would tell everybody what it is, but I signed a confidentiality agreement and can’t. Let’s just say that it’s been a difficult project for me. At least, it keeps my mind active.

Without a doubt, I love ghostwriting (well, writing of any kind). The pay is low, but I’m doing something I truly like. Isn’t that a motivating part of any job? Besides, I’m making a little “fun money” in the process. I’m just glad I don’t need to support a family on the pay. We wouldn’t make it.

Maybe one of these days I’ll have time to work on my own book to get it ready for Kindle Direct Publishing. Right now, though, there’s barely enough time to blog. I’m kind of just squeezing it in here.

Sunset after the Rain
9-18-15

We get the most amazing sunsets here in southern Arizona, especially when it’s been raining. I can’t get enough of them because they are all so different.

I can’t tell you how much I enjoy doing these ghostwriting projects. This past week was a busy one with my latest one. I had to write 8,000 words in about four days. That’s a lot for those of you who wouldn’t know. It was actually kind of fun this little book because it was a new genre for me and completely out of my comfort zone. Now I’m waiting for it to be proofread. When it is, I’ll make any necessary changes then send it back to my client.

When he approves it, he’ll be sending me yet another short book synopsis for me to ghostwrite. Nice.

Unfortunately, I don’t have time to work on my own books so I can get another one online. Oh, well. I guess I’ll just have to work on one until I get another project. I just don’t like having to stop then restart my editing. It throws me off.

On top of that one of the cats got sick and had to go to the vet. Thank goodness, the grumpy old man just had an absessed tooth, which actually fell out when the vet was examining his mouth. For the first few days, he let me give him his medicine. This  morning, I got the claw swipe. Glad he’s feeling better, but OUCH!

A Rock Outcrop
in Brown Canyon

This past couple of weeks I haven’t done much except research. After finishing my ghostwriting project, I needed to see if I could come up with a synopsis for a follow-up series, which I did. Now I’m just waiting to hear if it’s been accepted to write.

In the meantime I’ll be working on one of my own books to prepare for publication on Kindle Direct Publishing. I might try to put this new book on other sites as well, such as Nook or Smashwords. I really look forward to working on my own project, but I’m still putting feelers out for ghostwriting projects, too.

Today, my husband John and I went hiking on Brown Canyon, which isn’t far from our home. I got several nice pictures there. I swear, my phone takes better pictures than my camera does.

The rest of the day today I’ll be picking out my book to work on while I watch an Amazon Prime TV show called The White Queen. I started watching it the other day and was surprised by how interesting I found it. Now I need to finish it.

I don’t really have a lot to say, which is why I didn’t post anything last week. Hopefully, this week will be more productive.