Ciara Gold's Blog

 Wow! I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted anything on my blog. What can I say? Life got in the way.  I actually retired in May of 2020 and thought that would free up time to start doing things for me, but alas, it seems I just got busier.

With additional time comes the difficult problem of narrowing down what I want to work on. As an artist, I have way too many loves. I love babysitting my granddaughter, gardening, sewing, painting, being involved in community, reading and writing. Wanting to do them all sorta freezes me from doing any of them so I'm trying to create a schedule of sorts.

Today, I'm writing! I've been writing since my last book came out in 2015, but never consistently. I have five stories started, all around 40,000 words so far. Well, I decided I needed to quit bouncing between book drafts so I am concentrating my efforts on finishing one of the stories. It will be a shorter book I think, but still full of twists and a heartwarming HAE. 

In the meantime, I still have to figure out how to balance all my wants. That said, this is my attempt at holding myself accountable. My first goal is to write every day even if it's only one sentence.

Yep, still alive. This has been a special Thanksgiving break as hubby and I spend it together in our new home. The house isn't quite finished; lots of little things left to do but for the most part, we're moved in. The weather has been outrageously pleasant, like a mild fall day, which is fine by me as I'm not particularly fond of the cold. Today I spent much of it burning wood as our wood pile is overflowing.





Family and friends gathered on Thursday for a non-traditional meal. Hubby grilled steel head trout and with it, I served rice pilaf, squash casserole, steamed spinach and a cranberry salad my mom made. We did this because my son and his beautiful lady were going to have a traditional meal with her folks the next day. So, Saturday, I made a traditional meal for just hubby and me. Yep, we'll be eating turkey for a week.

As for other news in my world, I'm still not settled into writing yet but the office is set up, my files are accessible and all my research books are within reach. So I'm hopeful by this summer, I'll be cranking out the stories again. Oh how I miss writing! As for my art side, I signed up to take a forensic art course with Lois Gibson. I'm very excited about this one. It's a way I can use my talents to help others so we'll see how good I am at drawing portraits after April arrives. It's a week long course but I've already bought both work books for it.

I feel as if I've been gone forever but alas, moving and building is a slow process. In addition, Internet connections just aren't as reliable as when we were in town. At present, I'm waiting for yahoo to fully load and it's already been ten minutes. But I think the end is in sight. Hubby is trying like mad to get all the shelving completed and my son has helped move big furniture items into the new home for the past three weekends. The storage shed is now completely empty. I'm about to dismantle my computer from the small cabin I've housed it in to the new office area. Crossing fingers everything still works once that's done. 

Needless to say, I owe my writing buddy, Susan Horsnell an apology. I was supposed to announce her new release again yesterday but alas, blogger wasn't playing nice for me. I tried to email her and yahoo wasn't playing nice either. Perhaps today is a better day anyway. Please check out her new work along with her coauthors.

Amazon US https://amzn.com/B01LWRVOP9 
Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LWRVOP9Amazon CA  https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01LWRVOP9Amazon AU http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01LWRVOP9  GoodreadsFacebook Fan Club


Amazon US https://amzn.com/B01LWRVOP9 Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LWRVOP9Amazon CA  https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01LWRVOP9Amazon AU http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01LWRVOP9  GoodreadsFacebook Fan Club A bank robbery happens at the busiest time of the week in Beltane. How will the people caught in the bank deal with the future? One beginning, five endings. Which character path will you follow? It's up to you!  Available now.   

My post for the LASR Anniversary is scheduled and should be live today. You can access my post here.
 Hope you'll join me. They are planning all sorts of prizes. Should be fun. 

Thought I'd revisit one of my older books. It's Eppie time and I won the Eppie for the 2008 Science Fiction Futuristic Romance section with this story.  A Noble Sacrifice.


“You lie.” Joyelle held the controller higher. “You’d serve yourbrother’s clan before you serve mine.”

Tared didn’t understand her illogical reasoning. She didn’t wantto give him up, yet she still professed a fear of the physical side of a
relationship. Had she finally accepted Fate’s plan for them? Surely, she
didn’t expect their relationship to remain the same.

“Should you wish it, I will claim you for mate before all thesewitnesses.” He nodded toward his brethren.

“No!” A panicked expression fell across her features. “You’re myslave. Nothing more.”

It dawned on him then what motivated her reasoning. Shedidn’t want to be alone. She wanted a man by her side, but one with
no sexual claim upon her body. As slave, he would be with her always,
but on her terms. His brows creased, and he took a step toward her.

“’Tis time you learned I’m more than a slave.”
“Not another step.” The controller trembled between herfingers. She steadied it by wrapping both hands about the small box
and pointing it at his neck. “Please. I don’t want to hurt you in front of
your clan.”

He ignored her order and took another step. Perhaps it wasbest he show the Verside the spark that flowed between them. In this
manner, he would make his claim. She would forgive his
highhandedness once she learned not to fear him.

“No!” She pushed the button on the controller.

This is me venting.

Google just made me so frustrated I could spit nails.  Really? What's up with blogger forcing me to get them a telephone number. I hate giving my number to anyone that I don't know and especially a huge entity like Google or Blogger. Anyone else have issues with getting into blogger?

Seriously frustrated. It took me 2 hours. Here's the scenario.

"There something wrong with the way you've logged in. We need to verify you. Please enter a telephone number so we can text."

Because I'm stubborn, I elected to punch the button that said "ask a different question" which then prompted the question on what month and what date I started my blog. Well, sorry for not remember dates for something like that. Seriously, who remembers that kind of info? So I punched the button that said I could request help from Google which then asked for the password I last remembered which I put in and then the email associated with the account. I plug that in and it says I've received a verification code to use. I check my email, use the code and plug it in only to get a message that says something like, "Nope, sorry, we can't verify it's you right now".

So then I go to Blogger help. There's no contact info anywhere for getting any serious help. Instead, it asks me the problem and gives me a few choices which includes can't get into my blog. Then leads me to a page that starts the whole process over again. I repeat the steps I did previously with the same message.

So then I go to the forum only it won't let me post my query because ------ yep, I'm not logged into Google. Oh right, I can't be verified. So why offer the option if you aren't going to allow it to work. Yep, not a happy Google/Blogger user right now.

So yeah, now Google has my number. I better not see an increase in spam calls. I get about 1 a week but that's plenty for me.

I am going to be a small part of the celebration for Long and Short Reviews 9th Anniversary Party!   Please make plans to join them. They will be giving away a $100 Amazon/BN GC  – along with smaller Amazon GCs, publisher GCs, books, ebooks, and author swag!  There will be dozens of winners).    http://www.longandshortreviews.com  I prepared a blog post for the event but I don't have a direct URL yet. Will keep you all posted. In the meantime, mark your calendars for August 15 - 26. Come join the fun.

New writers beware, writing does come with some risks. :-)  Okay, this is not to be doom and gloom and no, I'm not sick, but I have noticed changes in my health mostly due to my long hours spent on the computer so I thought I'd outline them here as a warning for others to take precautions.

1.  Posture.  I used to have really good posture, a trait I acquired from four years of choir where we were required to sit up straight and on the edge of our seat. Alas, hours bent over the computer have caused me to be lazy with my posture. To rectify this, I'm trying to do stretch exercises. I'm also going to be looking into Yoga. Mainly, I just need to train myself to be more aware of the situation.

2.  Dry eyes. So I go to my optometrist and ask her about the fact that my eyes burn a lot. She put some sort of dye in them and then asked me to blink. The moisture on a normal eye evaporates in about 10 - 11 seconds. The moisture on mine evaporated in 2. People who stare at the screen for long periods of time, tend to not blink as often as they should and eventually, this will lead to dry eye. So now, I try to force myself to blink more often when I'm on the computer. I also put ointment in my eyes and I take a daily supplement of fish oil made especially for eye health. So far, I think my eyes are getting better but still....

3.  Blood clots. I don't know if I have blood clots yet, but I know that sitting for hours on end can lead to blood clots in the legs. Now that I'm out in the country, I try to get up every 30 minutes, go outside, and walk around for a few minutes. My husband got a computer stand for his desk that allows him to stand when he works. I've been considering this but I'm not sure I could type so well standing.

4.  Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  Nope, I don't have this but my mom got it. She used to type a lot. In fact, she could type over 70 words per minute on a standard typewriter while carrying on a conversation. Me? I'm happy to type 40 words per minute on a keyboard. There's no real prevention for this but again, they say frequent breaks help and not working in a cold environment.

I'm sure there are more but this is a good start to a list. For those of  you new to writing, seriously, it's okay to take frequent breaks. Also, go outside and get some sun. Lack of vitamin D is also not good for you.

One of the reasons I haven't been blogging as much or writing as much is that my husband and I are building our first home. It's been quite the adventure. We contracted a small house that we designed. The construction team is building it to a certain stage and then we're taking over. Well, we're just about at the "taking over" spot.

Last Friday, the builder okayed us to go ahead and paint the inside. We had to paint before we can do floors and we had to have the tile in the bathroom before the plumber could wrap up his part. So - we're taking care of inside paint, contracting our own floors and cabinets and some of the other interior stuff.

Needless to say, I'm knee deep in paint. So far since Friday, I've painted the ceilings in the laundry, the kitchen, my office, the hallway, the bathroom and the back closet. I've almost finished the walls in the bathroom. I've caulked door trim and painted door trim. Hubby built shelves in the bath area that I've also painted.

I'm sore. I'm beyond tired but it's very gratifying so not going to complain - much. But I do have to say that the workforce that works at menial labor all day in the hot sun has my everlasting gratitude for the jobs they do. Our framer was amazing. Our electrician was great. The sheetrock guy did an outstanding job. The roofers did a beautiful job. The only glitch was the plumber. He was adequate but hey, that's still not a job I would want.