Kimber An's Blog

Good morning! My husband tells me he's ordered a new computer with a touchy screen thing which should enable me to resume writing my stories. He did this because we found my using the touch-screen on his new iPad worked for me without causing PAIN! It's horrible when pain or some other physical limitation gets in the way of doing what you love. Anyway, if all goes well, I will be updating my Goodreads page and resume the writing of my novels, including the final book in the Sugar Rush series, which I call 'The Sweet Ophelia Sugar Crash.' Prayers and good vibes please! Regards, Kimber

Hello, Goodreads Friends, I've been out of it for a year and a half with arthritis/tendonitis. During that time, all rights to my published stories returned to me. I'm getting back into the groove with a new book review blog. Please pop over and visit me there and tell your author friends I'm open for ARCs. Regards, Kimberley

cabinfeverbookreviews.blogspot.com

I can write two pages a day without an increase in pain.  It's slow-going, but it's keeping me sane!

***I'm going nuts not being able to write my stories, so here's the first page of the last novel in the Ophelia Dawson series.  Sadly, it won't see the light of day for a long time.  See my last post if you want to know why.  I become nostalgic when I think back on how far the character has come since the very first book was published.  (((sigh)))  Anyway, here you go and please bear in mind it's never been professionally edited.*** *Empaths were often mistaken for Angels in times past. Ophelia held the icy, unflinching gaze of the yearling vampire as she pushed through the swinging half-doors like a ranger in the Old West.
 
Why? The boy was a little older than her with gorgeous dark brown hair, but if all went well he would remain eighteen forever.
 
I am your last hope of redemption.  She strode slowly, smoothly towards his table, all the while holding his raging emotions firmly in her grasp.  Even so, she felt the darkness growing around the periphery of her senses.  She thanked God they were the ice cream parlor's only customers at the moment.
 
It’s too late.  There’s no way out for me.  He sunk his gaze into the soda pop he wasn’t drinking and slumped his shoulders.
 
I wouldn’t be here if that was true.  You only need a little faith.  Ophelia winked at him and let her lips curl.  I can do the rest. 
 
In a blur the Malevolent warrior pounced, but she spun with grace before his body could strike hers and slapped the silver on his wrists.  He fell at her feet; hands bound behind his back and writhed in pain.
 
“Silver slap-bracelets.”  Ophelia pointed at the blood-sucking brute as the yearling vamp leapt to his feet, pale face full of alarm.  “I’ve been dying to try them out.”  Noting his astonishment, she added, “Oh, it’s all right.  The silver content is only enough to sting and subdue him.  It causes no permanent damage.”
 
The yearling’s dark eyes flickered as she stepped over the captured vampire.  He pointed a shaky finger at the hapless attacker.  “Why…why didn’t you…”
 
Ophelia blew a wayward strand of her red hair from her face.  “Like I said, I’m an Empath.  I don’t slay ‘em.  I just bag ‘em.”

Good morning, Blog Buds!  I've decided not to finish writing the final book in the Ophelia Dawson series at this time.
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The books in a series need to be written and published one right after another, so the reader isn't left hanging.  Between my Tendonitis and the shake-up at my publisher, it's just impossible to do that for BLOOD, DARK AND SWEET.  This can be blamed on ePublishing, but book series get shelved in traditional publishing too. 
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The publisher of SWEET BYTES has the right of first refusal for the sequal and there's six years left on the contract.  But, the idea of seeking a *third* ePublisher for this series did not thrill me anyway.
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The thing with ePublishing is that authors make pennies on each book sold.  So, the cold, harsh fact of it is
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I do it for love
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not money.
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So, when the love is gone, it's just not worth doing.
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Not when I have other, much more fun things to do with my imagination, which is crammed with a bazillion other stories all clamoring for their turn.
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As for the Ophelia Dawson series, the last book is complete in my imagination and partially written.  One day the rights to the first three books will return to me and then I will finally complete the saga.  And I'll have the chance to make major improvements based on everything I've learned since their first publication.  SWEET BYTES was my best so far, I feel, and I really want BLOOD, DARK AND SWEET to have its day too, because it's awesome in my head and I hope readers will like it too.
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In the meantime, I will continue to work on healing my hands, learning to use speech-activated software, and working on my next story in my imagination, a survival novel set in Alaska, tentatively titled THE GRIZZLY BEAR INN.
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Want to know something?  The dream which inspired the Ophelia Dawson series is a scene which can only be found smack-dab in the middle of the last book in the series, which may not see the light of day for a few years.
In any case, I'll keep you posted on my writing and, by the way, I'll be reopening my hobby farm blog soon. 
This is Amelia, an Americauna hen.  Her eggs are pale sage green.

There's been an internal shake-up at my publisher.  I missed most of it due to Tendonitis/Tennis Elbow, but now it has a new CEO.  Not sure what this means for me, but they do have the right for the first look at the final book in the Ophelia Dawson series, if I want it published, according to contract, which isn't due to expire for another six years, I think.  So, my choices are, go with it or simply not finish writing the book.  There are so many elements to consider and my priorities do not include fame or money, or I would have won the lottery instead.  I just want to share my stories with the world and enjoy doing that.  So, we'll see how it goes.

In much less pain these days, although my hands still get stiff when I write.  My daughter is anxious for me to resume writing because she's my first editor and wants to get paid!  Unfortunately, there's been some sort of internal shake-up at my publisher, which puts the future of the Ophelia Dawson series into question.  I'm cool with waiting that one out.  I've got so much else on my plate.  My eldest got into the private school she wanted and I'm planning on homeschooling the other three, which is rather scary.  And also, of course, we're waiting breathlessly to know if and when we get our new house.  I can't wait to tell you all about that adventure!  Here's a hint-

In any case, Happy Back-to-School Shopping!  I'm a lousy shopper, but, thankfully, my mother- and sister-in-law are brilliant at it.

Hands Update:   Working with a doctor to get my hands all better.  I'm hopeful.  Please pray it's not osteoarthritis.  Want to write the last book in the Ophelia Dawson series so bad!  And also a bunch of others.
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New House:  We've found one we really like.  Hope to have a happy announement on that soon.
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Hope your summer is going awesome!

Sorry if I just gave you whiplash.  We've ultimately decided to stay in Alaska and buy our first and, hopefully, only house right here.  Once we decided on Maine, it all just became too traumatic and the numbers didn't crunch for us.  We're Alaskans!  And that's all there is to it.  I'm going to miss hanging out with the Amish though.  I've learned so much from reading about them.
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In the meantime, I feel a little better each day, but it's not fast enough to suit me.  You know, I really thought having four children would teach me patience, but it appears the Good Lord figured I needed to know a little more about the subject.  I'm told these things can take months to heal up. 
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Now looking for our home sweet home in which to raise our rowdy offspring and lots of chickens too.
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Miss writing my stories so much!  If there's one thing I've learned about this business, though, it's vital to be tenacious and necessary to be highly adaptable.  So, I will come back!  I will!
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Have a gorgeous summer.

Okay, my pain level is down to two on a scale from one toten, but only if I don't do anything with my hands. Yesterday, I made macaroniand cheese from scratch for dinner and it just about destroyed me. So, I'mwriting this with my Dragon software and my daughter will cut and paste to myblog.

Exciting news!
My husband's airline is moving us to Maine! This is veryexciting yes I do love Alaska very much and will miss it terribly. This morning Iwas looking out the window and wish it would snow and it did! I love to watchsnowfall first thing in the morning. I'm told Maine gets lots of snow too, butthey don't have polar bears. They do have puffins though!   http://projectpuffin.org/
With my daughter's help, I hope to post an update about oncea week. It's not very easy. Every time she laughed Dragon writes what she'slaughing that I tell her to stop laughing at a right something totallydisgusting and into out more energized by what she's laughing again and writesomething stupid! The little children running and screaming behind us a Dragontries to write what they're screaming about. Daughter laughs and it tries to write that.  Heavy sigh. Dragon needs a special device toscreen out the background noise of large herds of offspring.
At the next update wish me well, pray for me, and send goodvibes. I do check e-mail about once a day with help of course.  I miss writing my stories, but I am working on them in my imagination.  Hopefully, this chapter in my life will enrich and deepen my stories so they'll be lots better than they might've been otherwise.