Hello August!

photo obtained from Bonnie Plants facebook site

Well, July was good and bad.
Good as far as sales--which were steady and over 100 ebooks sold in that month--more than I've ever had sell in one months time EVER! So, this was good.
Good because there were no fires, no trees blowing down, even the storms were quiet when they came in.

Bad when my husband did not get the big paying job, or even some sort of deal for better pay/or continued pay through the winter. However, good that we got all past this, and we're able to deal with what we need to do next. Oh, he'll get paid through the fall, and has decided to not get on the bus until late November. He has enough hours that he can simply continue with the forest preserve.

I've meanwhile been continuing my yoga. I had my physical for my job the other day and was able to touch my toes! No one is expected to, I'm not sure if the doctor even cares, he's just looking for a bad back, makes sure you can hear okay, read the chart, not dizzy, and your blood pressure is good--min was 120/80. I've always had a good BP. They also check for sugar in urine--I hate peeing in a cup. But everything was fine, normal, or excellent.

I've been reading John Grisham's A Time To Kill, a 600+ page legal thriller, set in a make-believe county/town in Mississippi. I would not recommend this to people who are upset with authors using realistic dialogue set in the south, i.e. the use of the N-word is liberal, and "Redneck". It opens with the rape and beating and nearly killing of a 10 year old black girl by two white males (rednecks), and the father of course is out for revenge. He plans their killing when they're taken from the courthouse, and shoots them with an M-16 (he had been in Vietnam). What follows is a story of a young lawyer, Jake Brigance, who tries to defends him. The dialogue is sharp, sometimes witty, and the characters memorable. The KKK tries its best to stop him, of course, which includes an attempt at bombing his house, but later it's burnt to the ground. He is shot at, and a National Guard man is shot instead while they try to protect him. His legal secretary is abducted and tied to a post where she's frightened by them, threatened with a bull whip, her ear nearly cut off, and her clothes are. This story was Grisham's first novel. It did not take off until after his next couple novels, The Firm, and I think The Client, which sold millions.

I'm not quite done with this book, but it has me enthralled completely. I hope to get my hands on The Firm, eventually. I've only read two of Grisham's novels, and I enjoy them--always long 600-page turners.

As for me, I'm working to get my fifth novel out to my publisher. I'm hedging, though, since I'm still paying up on what I owe him at $50/book, which goes to various things which may include covers, but also includes whatever he does for the book's promotions. Whatever he does must be working, because my last publisher never got sales for me like this.

As August comes in and the locusts make their loud noises in the trees, the crickets their own song in the grasses, it colors my world. I've never been crazy about this month because my birthday arrives at the end of the month right when school begins. My usual jobs have been driving for either school buses, or transit for NIU. I don't actually have a problem with turning older. Last year was hard because it was the BIG 60. But this year, since beginning the yoga and dropping several pounds, and keeping them off, I've  felt a little better.

You have any plans for August? What's your favorite month of the summer?