Planning Ahead Can Be A Great Way To Organize

Planning ahead is easy. Make a check list and stick to it. Mark things on your calendar--doctor visits, editing deadlines, family events. Oh, and blogging dates, too.  One musn't forget those.  I post regularly at four blogs: Vintage Vonnie, Voices of the Heart, Seven Night Writers and here at The Roses of Prose. Now, if I were truly a planner, I'd write my posts early and schedule them to self-publish on the specified date. Many do that, but not I. No, I don't plan ahead that well. You see, this post should have gone up at midnight, not at ten-twenty in the morning.

If I were such a planner, then at times like this when I'm not at my best, I could merely roll over and try to go back to sleep, knowing my post was already up. But I'm not. So after a night of coughing, hacking and sniffling, when I shuffle into the bathroom for more decongestant and something niggles at my cottony mind--like, what day is it???--I wouldn't go into an OMG panic.

It's just a bug of some kind, nothing earth-shattering, but I'm useless right now just the same. I see the doctor at three-thirty today, and he'll tell me what I already know: I have a virus. But thanks to the cancer scare I had three months ago, I now have a hovering husband who is calling the doctor every time I sneeze or get a headache. Pass me that box of tissues, would you, please?

Of course, if I'd only get in the habit of posting and scheduling my blogs a few days in advance, I wouldn't be in this "egg on face" predicament, stumbling and fumbling, trying to think of something witty to say. Perhaps that should be my goal for 2012. Post blogs early and schedule them to self-publish on time!!!

I do have something great to share. My cover for my novella, part of the Honky Tonk Hearts series is in. Somehow the artist was able to capture Evie's dose of attitude, but then I shouldn't be surprised. The Wild Rose Press has the best graphic artists.

Evie Caldwell hates her life. Five years ago, she gave up college and her dream of teaching to care for her ailing mother. Now, she’s trapped taking care of her worthless brother and the family ranch. Waiting tables to earn her way out of Texas, the last thing she wants is a muscleman with a macho Marine attitude complicating her life. But, oh, how that man makes her insides melt.

Wounded vet Win Fairchild returns to Texas to heal, find a piece of his soul, and open a ranch for amputee children. Finding someone to love is not on his agenda. But when he starts work at the Lonesome Steer Honky Tonk, a spitfire with violet eyes and a major attitude instantly captures his heart.

Evie just wants to escape, but now that Win knows what he wants, can he convince Evie to stay in Texas—and his bed?

My final galleys for Those Violet Eyes are in. As soon as my eyes stop watering enough so I can see the computer screen clearly, I'll get started on those. Until then, it's orange juice and hot tea for me. Let's add another thought to the list of things to do in 2012, shall we? STAY HEALTHY, EVERYONE.