If you've been following my blog for any length of time, this shouldn't be a surprise to you.

Upcoming server outage.

To my Momma, Sir's Momma, and everyone else who visits my blog who is a Momma, Happy Mother's day on Sunday.

Hope everyone has a grand day, and enjoys the time with their families.

I get itchy fingers when we get to this point. Waiting for a printed sample, or "proof," of a book is always an anxious time. I like to have the book in my hands to see how it looks in real life, and the printer can never deliver as fast as I want it to. When we hit this point in the process, I'm almost as anxious/edgy as the author, because I'm more than ready to get the work out into the world.

In this day of digitalized book files, it does make it easier and faster, but still, I have to find other things to occupy my mind as soon as I release the files to the printer. Otherwise I sit and wait, and worry, and wait, and chew my fingernails. Not good...I'm trying to grow those suckers out (actually, they're mostly looking pretty good...go me), and it's bad for my teeth. Even still, if the printer doesn't hurry up, I may have to sacrifice a nail to chew.

So obviously I'm talking about Hoodoo Money, the book I gave you a sneak peek at the cover on Monday. It's a romantic suspense, and the author tells a great story. And for me, the fact that there's a follow-up that is intimately connected to this book, well, I LOVE those! I'm champing at the bit for the author to get a move on that book, but she's waiting to see this one IRL (in real life), too.

Hurry, printer, hurry!

As promised, here's a sneak peek at the cover for the upcoming release, Hoodoo Money, by Sharon Cupp Pennington.



A reminder of the back cover blurb:

To see a sneak peek of the Hoodoo Money cover art! We're getting close to release day on this book, and not a moment too soon!

Sometimes covers come really easily, sometimes it can be more of a struggle. Despite the struggle with this cover, I think it came out great...and the author is thrilled. That's the best part.

So be sure to come check us out tomorrow, because we'll be previewing the cover art here before it goes anywhere else online! Woohoo!

Please be sure to add our domain draumrpublishing.com into your junk or spam filters, so that we can efficiently respond to your queries, and/or send you sales invoices, ebooks, etc.

Thank you!

I wish I could split my blog categories up, because this is going to be both company and personal updates. Oh well, I go with company. Tossed a coin, if you really want to know how I decided.

Update on the Amazon issue, first mentioned in this blog: well, none. Our books are still available, as normal, on Amazon, with the exception that our new books seem to not be getting the same discounts that our older books got, but I don't know why. It's a weird little issue, but considering it's Amazon, and their decision as to what discounts they do or don't offer, there's not much we can do about it. Which leads me into my next comment, which is my continued request that readers not purchase books from Amazon, but instead choose another retailer, or purchase directly from the book's publisher. I plan to do the same, until such time that Amazon realizes what idiots they're being, and goes back to business BEFORE all this came up.

Update on the Brandi issue. She's doing well, and we're pleased with that. She went back for her two week check-up, and to get her 36 staples removed. That's right, I said thirty-six! Poor pooch. But evidently she was too busy trying to talk to every human who walked by her that she didn't flinch, or even look at the surgeon as he removed each tiny little staple. Meanwhile, her check-up went perfectly, and the surgeon said she could do what she wanted, within reason, but shouldn't be encouraged to do anything. So she's moving around a lot more, and more easily, and even tried to play a little tiny bit the other night. She lost 13 pounds since before the surgery, which is awesome because it'll be less pressure on her joints (and her arthritis), and will keep her moving more easily and hopefully more often. So she's on an upward swing, and we're happy about that.

Update on our upcoming releases. Well, Hoodoo Money is just waiting on some tweaks to cover art, and then we'll be done. We're still heading for a May release, so keep your eyes here for more info on that. Talented Horsewoman is about to move into cover art, so that's always exciting. I just have some minor corrections to make to the text, then it's off to cover-art-land! Meanwhile, still slinking in quietly from the sidelines, is Misty's upcoming Ivy Morris mystery release. But I won't give too much away on that just yet...you'll have to keep coming back to find out more!

Dat's about it, folks! See you on the morrow!

Here's a sneak peek at the blurb for the upcoming release, Hoodoo Money, by Sharon Cupp Pennington. This is a romantic suspense set in New Orleans...



Curses, murder, betrayal...and romance. What more could you want?!

Well, Marlee Matlin is gone. I was sorry to see her get kicked off, but I guess it was her turn. In the end, only one can win, right? To that end, Carly somethingorother is gone from AI. While I won't miss her--I never really liked her or understood the fascination about her--I do wish the dreadlock guy would go. He seems like he's not really interested in being there, and last night I caught him YAWNING while he was waiting backstage. Doesn't he know he's ALWAYS on camera? And to yawn on national television is rude, considering all these people are voting for him to be there...he's next to go, I hope.

Now, on to REALITY. Reality is getting stuck in the arm with a needle THREE times, and having them DIG AROUND each time, in order to draw blood. Yeah, THAT was unpleasant. And since the girl had trouble there in the doctor's office, I moved on to one of the lab places? And I sat for like forty minutes, dreading going in and getting stuck yet again...maybe multiple more times. But no, the guy who took care of me (waves to the nice guy at Qwest on Little Patuxent Parkway, who chatted with me while he drew blood...brilliantly, btw, with one shot...yeah, you, the nice gentleman who talked to me about his years in the business, and his paramedic experience before that...HI! Thanks!) was AWESOME. Talk about getting someone who knows what they're doing. I never even felt it when he switched tubes. Damn sure I'll be going back there if/when I need to have blood drawn again.

Anyways, that's reality. I'm black and blue from the original attempts, and my arms are sore, but at least it's over with. And onward and upward, hopefully working with Misty on her upcoming Ivy Morris mystery! Woo-hoo!

Reality shows...I watch 'em. You can see from previous years that I've watched American Idol, and Big Brother. I haven't watched BB this year because I just haven't been interested. It came on during a weird time, I missed the initial episode, and I've not gotten an interest to catch up. I don't even know if it's still on, or if it has ended.

This year, I'm watching AI, and Dancing With the Stars. I don't always watch DWTS, but sometimes I come in toward the end of the season...and sometimes I don't watch at all. I think I'm watching it because it's on during a quiet evening on TV this year.

Tonight, AI did Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway songs. Although I don't really like ANY of the contestants this year, and haven't really paid CLOSE attention to the show, I do enjoy Broadway songs, so I wanted to watch tonight. I enjoyed David Cook, who sang "Music of the Night." I like that song, though I've never seen the play, nor do I know any other songs from that show. I thought David sang the song quite well, though he didn't seem to know what to do with his hands, arms, or body. Vocally, though, I enjoyed it. Other than that, I wasn't really impressed with anyone else, and I thought the guy who sang "Memories" was terrible.

Now I have the results episode for DWTS on, and I'm hoping that Marissa Winokur stays because her dance last night was absolutely gorgeous. She's been stepping up her game in the past couple of weeks, and I think she deserves to stay. On the other hand, I wish they hadn't had Kristi Yamaguchi on the show, because I feel she has too much "dancing" experience. She's sort of a ringer, with her experience from skating, I think. And while I like Marlee Matlin and think she's very brave for being on the show, and she does dance well sometimes, her last two weeks haven't been great. But I hope she gets to stay and continues because she's got a great spirit. Shannon Elizabeth and her partner should just go...they always seem to be whining about something and pointing at other dancers. That's not the sign of a good competitor, IMO.

There you have it, my reality shows in a nutshell. Happy watching.