Things I Did This Summer

I love when I get a blog idea from someone else. :)

Things I Did This Summer

1. Coached a 3v3 soccer team to a close final race (but no championship game).

2. Edited 3 client manuscripts.

3. Chauffeured my kids to and from strings camp and biology lab, and a few soccer practices.

4. Attended the Salute to Supernatural in New Jersey.

5. Hugged Matt Cohen.

6. Got a job.

7. Picked up an editing client.

8. Worked on at least three different books (of my own!) at different levels (final final critique/edit, new writing, revision) but finished nothing.

9. Submitted multiple projects to agents and editors.

10. Compiled 3 RWR columns.

11. Sold a novella:


12. Commissioned a book cover:


13. Entered the Twitterverse (@NJDamschroder)

14. Went to Hersheypark (twice, counting tomorrow) and finally rode the Fahrenheit.

15. Since I needed a #15, today I sold Fight or Flight to Carina Press! Stay tuned for more details!

Bats, Dragons, and Naked Men

Late last night, I was on the phone with my cover artist for Soul of the Dragon (this is a cool cover, she captured Cyrgyn darned near perfectly) when Number One freaked out that there was something in the living room. "It's your shadow!" I tried to tell her, just as a winged creature zoomed into the dining room, then back into the living room, down the hall, and back again.

Now, I love bats. They don't scare me. But when they're panicking in a confined space and zipping down over your head, you tend to duck. And maybe cry out. A little. The kids were screaming and laughing, I was yelling and laughing, the poor thing kept circling the living room and stopping for half a second ABOVE the open front door instead of going through it. J finally managed to capture it in the Tupperware he'd brought downstairs the night before, after waking me at 12:39 a.m., to help him catch the thing in the ceiling. (I called him delusional and went back to bed--not that there wasn't something in the ceiling, because there most definitely was, but because there was no way we'd catch it. I'm pretty sure it was the bat.)

So that's the bat and the dragon. The naked guy is this:


I'm excited to say I have a new story coming out the week of September 26 from Amber Quill Press. Afterlife will be available in several e-book formats. Here's the blurb:

When adrenaline junkie Chloe Franklin’s chute fails, she’s sent directly to the afterlife. She didn’t know what she expected, but processing by committee wasn’t it. They tell her that she had the rare luck to find true love in life not once, but three times. Now she must decide which one she wants to be with forever. Given one day with each man, she rediscovers what each one means to her as they take each other to heights of ecstasy they’d barely known in their first go-round. At the end of the three days, she will be forced to set her eternity…and choose only one.

I think that's my favorite cover ever. :)

Sunday Stuff

"Farther" and "Further" are both acceptable to use to denote physical distance. Some editors prefer "farther," and sometimes it's house style. But I HATE that word and will always, always use "further" unless forced to change it. Which I will do without argument, but then never read my own work again. :)
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I started reading a book on Friday that got a lot of attention recently, including bestseller status and critical acclaim. It had an interesting premise, so I picked it up, despite it being something that was way outside my usual interests. *sigh* I should have ignored all that other stuff. I got one page into the book and was bored out of my mind. The dialogue was mundane and stale and I had no sense of the people saying it, except that they both seemed like twits.

Luckily, the book I read after that was the extreme opposite, and I finished it the same day, which hasn't happened in a really long time.
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I finally caved, and I'm on Twitter. The main reason is because Brenda Novak is having a Cyber Launch Party on Twitter for her new release, and will be giving away great stuff, including iPads. I considered not mentioning who was giving the event, to avoid beefing up the competition, but that would just be wrong. So good luck! :)

Setting up a Twitter account was pretty gratifying. I followed a few people/groups, and some immediately followed back and mentioned my new account, one even saying "Hey, everybody, Natalie's here! @NJDamschroder (Finally)." I love the "Finally," as if they've been waiting for me. LOL I also got followed by some people I don't know, which was flattering.

Still, I doubt I'll use it much. It will languish for long periods of time, like Facebook does, in part because my cell phone? Is just a cell phone. And probably always will be. Also, I rarely have interesting things to say.
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So that was one thing I did this weekend. Others include such boring stuff as:

• Shopping for work shirts suitable for embroidering

• Shopping for household stuff like box spring sheets*

• Trying on shoes I didn't buy**

• Grocery shopping

• Cleaning the house

• Moving furniture out of the living room

• Reading through Soul of the Dragon to ready for publication***

*BG is our big fabric clawer. (Maya prefers gouging wood, and Frisbee enjoys picking at the screens in the front window.) BG destroyed Number One's old box spring, so I told the girls we were getting bed skirts to protect the new mattresses. The protests hurt my ears. So I decided to get cheap sheets to put over them instead. Turns out I could get an entire sheet set for $5–10 less than a bed skirt, anyway.

**After four hours of non-stop running, my feet and legs are killing me. I've tried three different pairs of my better shoes. One pair is too battered, and my feet were overall okay but the toes were tender afterward, because my feet slide in them too much. One looks best with capris, but the edges of the leather chafe my feet too much, and the unbroken leather makes them sweat, which doesn't help. One pair is the most comfortable, but even with a cushioned insole, isn't giving enough support, so I hobble out of work at the end of the morning.

I tried a few things on yesterday. The problem is that I have weird feet. They measure about a 6.5 EEE (in good shoe measurements) but I really wear a 9.5 or 10 D (wide). Not many shoes are made wide, so I end up getting them longer than I need, and they're still too snug. The most promising pair of shoes I tried on were Keds that had decent support and cushioning but looked like giant, glowing boats on my feet. I don't know if I can walk around the office like that. I'll blind patients when they lie down for lumbar stim.

***I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I've decided to give Kindle and Smashwords a try—as an author, that is—and self-publish my first paranormal romantic adventure, Soul of the Dragon. It never found a home with a traditional publisher for various reasons, and I still love the story. I've been reading through it (editing as necessary), and it holds up, despite how long its been since I wrote it. It was the first book of my heart, and as such, deserves to see if it can find an audience. So stay tuned for more as I head toward publication!