Such a quandry

July 20, 2014

When faced with life's little problems, the writer in me turns to blogging. Blogging is like talking to myself or talking out loud. I can hear myself and then see the printed words. You'll never know how many times I've written a blog and then deleted it because just the act of putting the words on the screen in front of me clarified how I felt or focused my decision making in the proper direction. 

So here it is: I've got seven stories promised between now and the end of 2015. That's not a typo. This morning I opened my email and there's one from the head guru at Amber Quill with an idea for a themed collection which is not a PAX at this time. Okay, but I've already written a book titled very loosely on this theme. Yes, it did very well but do I want to get stuck in that particular rut? 

I don't think I do. Using the names of popular drinks as book titles isn't new by any stretch of the imagination. I don't want to be lumped in that group. I thought long and hard about using Kentucky 98 Proof for a title. It's not a drink but it is based on a distillery fact. Anything ninety-eight proof is very potent. 

Then there's my editor who has always given me a very difficult time when my characters have a drink and drive home. Back in my day the term "politically correct" hadn't even been coined. EVERYTHING I did as a teenager and young women is now considered "politically incorrect" or "unsafe." Yet here I am. Healthy and gainfully employed. Go figure. It looks like cruising the streets of my hometown in my 1969 Camaro with the steering wheel in one hand and a ginger ale spiked with Jim Beam in the other didn't do too much damage to my prospects. Or anyone else's in our group for that matter. It was simply what kids in this town did in those days. The past is the past and I won't judge any of them today.

So do I want to add to the writing stack? I think seven new stories on the plot board to be finished between now and the end of 2015 is plenty. It's more than enough! So as much as I'd like to join the ranks of JA Konrath with a Whiskey Sour, a Bloody Mary, a Rusty Nail, a Dirty Martini, a Fuzzy Navel, a Cherry Bomb, Shaken, Stirred, Last Call....  It goes on forever! I think I'll pass. 

*_*_*

Kentucky 98 Proof

Contemporary gay romance

Available at 

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E7JEXJ8

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01E7JEXJ8

Amazon CA:  https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01E7JEXJ8

iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1098677948

Barnes & Noble/Nook

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/kentucky-98-proof-kc-kendricks/1117193113?ean=2940153237954

Rakuten/Kobo: www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/kentucky-98-proof-1

Universal link to additional booksellers: https://books2read.com/u/bp8BXb

Kentucky 98 Proof webpage: 

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/kentucky-98-proof-by-kc-kendricks.html

_*_*_*_*_

KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 

http://kckendricks.blogspot.com

Visit my bookshelf at: 

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne.html

Social media links:

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards

instagram.com/kc_kendricks

My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

Life through the eyes of Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

Sometimes you can over-think a task

July 15, 2014

The spouse and I are sharing shared cooking duties tonight. Right now I'm hiding in my office so I don't beat him with a skillet say something I'll regret. He's attempting a recipe he saw Trisha Yearwood make on her cooking show. Potatoes, ground beef, cheddar cheese, onions, breadcrumbs. Think a variation on shepherd's pic with cheese instead of corn or peas. I've never known him to have such difficulty with a recipe and all because it said "make a rue" and to use a whisk to do it. Apparently whisks are bad things in his world. Like I said - I had to leave the kitchen.

I try to be methodical with my To-Do list. What's on the top of the list should get done first if at all possible. It helps keep me focused because I've been known to over-multi-task. About a week ago the task of updating all the publisher links here at Between the Keys rolled to the top and I did balk. If there's one thing I do not like is fixing any problem someone else initiated. But it had to be done. 

Setting about updating the links back to the Amber Allure site has not proven to be an onerous chore. It's been rather simple, actually. I've completed 29 of the 33 books I need to do and I hope to finish those by Friday. It's also been the perfect opportunity to update with the spell-checker, too. And to delete a few things that have changed over the years. It will be good to have order restored to my blog. 

I suppose I should go restore order to the kitchen as well. I can't hold it against the spouse for over-thinking his projects when I do the same thing. Fair is fair, after all. 

KC
website
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Fox on the run

July 14, 2014

The eastern red fox. We had a pair of them in the backyard this evening. 

No, we weren't pleased. A fox will eat a cat. 

I have a cat. 

A brave cat. 

A cat is not a match for a pair of foxes. 

This is not a good thing. 

Pa, get yer gun....and put some bullets in it....

July Fridays

July 11, 2014


It's a lazy Friday afternoon in my world. I'm sure there are things I could and should be accomplishing, but it's Friday. It's July. Concentration is a problem right now. 

Looking at my To-Do list didn't inspire me. In fact, it made me yawn. And that's the To-Do at the day job, too. I worked my butt off this week and I'm mentally bushed. With an hour to go, do they really expect to get a lot out of me? Probably.

Guess what? Not happening. I simply crammed too much into Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to be able to function now. I hope this passes by the time I get home later this afternoon. I've got lots to do!

There are two special projects on my desk at home and I need to finish both of them so I can get back to work on my own stories. AND the Beachcombers PAX I signed up for a while back finally got another three participants so now it's a "go" for next year. I said I would only do two PAX stories a year and now this will be three for 2015. Deadlines are not my friends,

Then there is the little project of updating all the *(#!&^ links here at Between the Keys. It's making my wrist ache. Not a good sign. 

And My Sexy Saturday. Do I want to hop in at the last minute and go for it? Don't know. Can't focus. Need a nap.  

I'm sure it will all work itself out, one way or the other because it's Friday. And it's July. 
And it's the best reason I know of to relax and let what will be, be. 

KC
website

Caution - mini rant ahead

July 6, 2014

I'm not a person who rants. I bitch. Is there a difference? Of course there is. I do my best to bitch in a lady-like manner. 

Earlier this year my home publisher moved to a new server. Every URL to every book I have published through the company changed. Think about this for a moment. 

All the links on KC's website needed changed. 
All the blogs KC ever did now contain bad and broken links, and there is over 500 entries.
All the promo posts KC ever did in every Yahoo group now contain broken links. 
All of KC's old tweets that promo a book at that publisher now contain broken links.

Let's face it. Everywhere KC ever did a promo prior to 2014 now has at least one broken link. 

Do you ever wonder why the Internet is so slow? I usually blame my crappy rural DSL but the real reason is because the Internet can't find anything!!!

ALL is not lost. The links to All Romance ebooks, Amazon, and other third-party vendors remain the same. It helps some but in the past I've tended to link to the publisher where, frankly, the writer gets a slightly better slice of the pie for all her/his hard work. 

I can't do a thing about what the publishers do. I can't round up all the old tweets and Yahoo posts and fix them. What I CAN do, and will do, is fix the links here at Between the Keys. 

Is it the best use of my time? I don't really think so but it seems to me if I want to remain proud of my work and of Between the Keys then I need to do this. The old adage states "if it's not broke don't fix it." Unfortunately, it is broke and I do have to fix it even though I'm not the one who broke the links and even though it will take a lot of my time.  

Please bear with me as I finish updating the links at Between the Keys. If you've wondered why more recent links tend to direct you to my website instead of a publisher page, it's so I don't have to do this again here at Between the Keys. 

And this is how I bitch like a lady. 

KC

Happy July the Fourth

July 4, 2014

Let not it be said I'm not feeling patriotic today.

Enjoy the holiday, but take a moment to reflect on what it means to be free - how fragile that freedom has become and our personal responsibility in maintaining the freedom we take for granted. 

We're free to be the best person we can be.

We're free to pursue what makes us happy.

We're free and able to live life without fear of oppression. 

We're free to make mistakes and grow from them. 

We're free to vote away our freedoms with a touch to a computer screen. 

Let us all prayerfully and mindfully protect our precious freedoms. 

KC

You want how much for that?

July 3, 2014

We love lasagna, perhaps the chef more so since she can make a batch in a 13x9 cake pan and get four meals out of it. Cook once, eat four times. What busy working person wouldn't like that? Being that I'm beginning a four-day weekend I thought I'd make lasagna for dinner and then freeze the other portions for Himself to heat when Herself doesn't feel like cooking after a day at the office. 

Did you know the local grocery wants $6.59 for a large tub of Ricotta cheese? (You want how much for that????)  I can buy a half-gallon of milk for $2.49 to make my own and it will taste better. 

Making it's easy. When making ricotta for lasagna, I use the entire half-gallon of whole milk. Heat the milk to just before it's ready to boil, but don't allow it to boil and foam. Sprinkle in a dash of salt. Two if you like salty which I don't. While it heats, squeeze the juice from two lemons (yes, catch the seeds and discard). Some recipes call for using white wine vinegar, but I like the mild lemon flavor as opposed to the more acidic wwv flavor. And I usually get the zest off the lemons before I squeeze the juice because I might get energetic and use it in something else.

When the milk is ready, turn off the heat and stir in the lemon juice - give it a good stir - and let it sit for five to ten minutes. Clumps should form. Then strain the mixture using cheesecloth or line a colander with coffee filters and strain through that. The filters take a lot longer but I like the result better. The ricotta will keep four or five days refrigerated in a container with a good seal. One of these days I may try freezing some just to see what happens although I expect the end result might be sort of nasty. 

If you need a real recipe you can find one here. This is the one I started with and modified for what works for me. The page also has handy pictures. 

So I'm going to make my own ricotta, save a bunch of money, and bypass ingesting some preservatives. What should I do with the money I save? 

Go buy a book, of course. 

KC
website

A matter re-thought

June 28, 2014

Content removed by the author.

Sometimes you need to adjust your thinking, especially when a product is outdated.

Please scroll to another entry. 

*_*_*_*


KC Kendricks
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One angry flyboy

June 21, 2014

If you’ve been following along here at Between the Keys you know I enjoy living in the country. I know for some there is nothing like the big city, and I confess I love to visit New York and soak up the electric vibe. You see, the real upside of country living is we can go to the city and find hotels. City dwellers can’t come to the country and find our vibe in resorts, bed & breakfasts or campgrounds.

Of course, city dwellers are probably a lot safer from summer’s one great menacing presence. It’s not what you might think. It’s not snakes, spiders, bears, bats, bees or ticks. It’s the Ruby-throated hummingbird.

I kid you not.

The ruby-throated hummingbird is the smallest breeding species of bird found in the eastern USA and Canada. They’re small, tiny even, but they’re one full ounce of pure wily aggression. (If they even weigh that much.) And this morning one nasty little flyboy put me in my place.

I kid you not.

It was my own fault. I knew last evening his favorite feeder (I put out two feeders) was empty and instead of refilling it then, I waited until this morning. Mistake one. I was sitting at my desk, playing around on Twitter, when a flash of movement caught my eye. I paused and looked out the window to find the hummingbird hovering, staring right at me through the glass with his beady little eyes. I ignored him. Mistake two.

When my coffee cup ran dry, I decided I’d refill his feeder (having made nectar last night in preparation) while the k-cup machine brewed my coffee. I stepped outside on the patio to get the feeder and there he was, lurking in the maple tree. I took the feeder off the hook and the little ingrate dive-bombed me!

I filled the feeder as quickly as humanly possible and carried it back to the hook. I barely got it up when he came at me again. This time he hovered in front of my face and chittered in his high-pitched voice. I’m sure I was not painted in a favorable light even though I’d just provided fresh go-go juice.

I hear and obey, oh Master. I’ll never allow the feeder to run dry again.

KC

http://www.kckendricks.com

http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks

Lazy, hazy days

June 19, 2014

It's hot.

Summer in the Mid-Atlantic region weeds the weak from the strong. If the heat doesn't do you in, the mosquitoes will. It's hot.  I won’t even mention it’s tick season except to say be aware of the little bloodsuckers. 

My own personal opinion is there's only one activity worth sweating at. Er… make that two.  There's some hot reading available right now so that is an option. I do know this much, though. If you live in Maryland during the dog days summer, both are done best in an air-conditioned room with the ceiling fan switched on.

Okay. So I'm a wimp - and proud of it.

My summer so far has been a busy one. I wish I'd been busier writing, but I needed to check in with my real life. I needed to reconnect to some of the people around me, refocus my energy on a more balanced wavelength. I love the voices in my head that tell me the stories, but they can be demanding. The really good thing is the raft of characters I have on the planning board have politely drawn straws to see who gets put on the page first.

We'll see how long their gentility lasts in this heat.

KC Kendricks

website: http://www.kckendricks.com
twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks
pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/kckendricks
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kckendricks

An unfortunate adjustment

June 14, 2014

Original content removed by the author.

With apologies to the regular readers here at Between the Keys. The original post contained promo for an outdated product. 

Some days you win, and some days you have to step back and regroup. Today is the regrouping kind of day. 


KC Kendricks

Doing what's necessary

June 8, 2014

Original content removed by the author.

My apologies to my regular readers. This post contained a promo for a product that has become outdated. 

KC Kendricks
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twitter
facebook

Netting Neptune for My Sexy Saturday #MSS45

June 7, 2014

**Updated 4/2/21 - the My Sexy Saturday blog hop has been closed.**

Welcome to another My Sexy Saturday! I've been on vacation (read that I've been a slackard) but I'm getting back into the swing of things. This week I'm highlighting Netting Neptune, book one of the Southern Cross series. 

Here's seven sexy paragraphs from Netting Neptune: 

The wine arrived, saving him from having to answer. Tomas poured for us, flashing me a curious look. I nodded slightly. Word would spread through the staff I might not be alone tonight. Unless some major emergency occurred, Tomas was on duty and he’d save all questions until tomorrow. Theron gave no indication he’d noticed the exchange, but he probably had.

Before I had the chance to tell him I hoped he’d consider sharing my bed tonight, a couple of friends breezed in to wish me a happy birthday. They’d barely gone before the dam broke and the patio flooded with people. Theron ate, listening while I chatted, snatching bites of filet between greeting people. Much too soon he left the table and settled into his bartender duties as I lived it up as the hosting guest of honor.

I managed to find my way to him in time to see the sunset reflected in his eyes. Theron smiled and handed me a seltzer with a lime twist. I whined.

“I ordered a vodka and tonic with a lime twist.”

He shook his head. “No more alcohol for you tonight, birthday boy.”

 My heart performed a funny little dance in my chest. I lowered my voice. “Does that mean what I hope it means?”

“Save the last dance for me.”

_*_*_*_

About Netting Neptune:

Theron Bowman is in the throes of a mid-life crisis. At forty, he needs to make some serious decisions about his future. He splurges on a two-week vacation in the Caribbean, and like everything else in his life, things go horribly awry and he ends up working to pay for his room.

Forced by his father to break ties with his family, Colby Denton came to rest on St. Lucia, and opened an exclusive resort. To celebrate his tenth year on the island, and his birthday, Colby arranges for a series of festive beachside parties. When a sexy sea god swims out of the ocean in front of him, Colby has a brand new plan – netting his very own Neptune.

Netting Neptune is available at Amazon and other online booksellers. 
www.amazon.com/Netting-Neptune-Southern-Cross-Book-ebook/dp/B01FEST0I0

_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 

http://kckendricks.blogspot.com

Visit my bookshelf at: 

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne.html

Social media links:

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards

instagram.com/kc_kendricks

My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

Life through the eyes of Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

Knockout Roses

June 5, 2014

I've been seeing row upon row of roses lately. I mean huge rows, too. Waves of colors on banks and along fences. I finally stopped at a local nursery to ask what kind of rose everyone is planting to get such a beautiful display.  The answer - Knockout Roses.

And they are a knockout. We cleaned up a few years of semi-neglect along the front porch and planted three Cherry Red Double Knockout Roses. I can't wait until mine grow to resemble the photo. 

Too bad they didn't have them twenty years ago. It would have saved me an awful lot of time weeding.

KC Kendricks

http://www.kckendricks.com

http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks

Reflections of a vacation well spent

June 1, 2014

It's been a lovely vacation. Eleven days to putz around the house, write, sit on the patio, write, spend a lazy afternoon or two with the spouse, write, blog and write. I haven't written so much in so short a time since Netting Neptune, Taming Triton and Poseidon's Pleasure. Those stores came together fast. 

This is the first vacation spent in my newly refurbished home office. Having finally gotten a good desk and credenza has made the room very comfortable. My reading corner must be comfortable, too, but I can't get the cat out of the chair long enough to sit there and find out for myself. I'll have to abide by the cat's opinion. The room is "me" in a way the rest of my house is not as one has to make concessions to one's spouse. It reflects the steps I've taken as a writer and as a person and I enjoyed every moment I spent in it these last eleven days. 

With the writing going so well it was inevitable I'd ponder the possibility of becoming a full-time writer. I'd have time to construct a different shapeshifter. Not that I don't love Sundown because I do, but because there are other avenues to explore. Same for science fiction. I think a little world building would be good for me. And then there's the big "who-dun-it" story I want to attempt that will require a lot of time to complete. Time is a truly unrecoverable resource. 

I know I'm very fortunate to have the day job with all the benefits as so many positions like mine are disappearing. In truth, I think when I retire the company I work for will not hire another full-time person to do what I do. Over the course of the next few years, I may even suggest they scale my position back to "three-quarter time." It might be a bit self-serving but then again it might just be the reality of the situation. 

It would give me time to write. To see if what I accomplished this week (as an author I measure productivity by word count) can be sustained. There's no way to know until it happens and it can't happen if I'm working elsewhere. But writing more has the potential to replace lost income. It is a very circular discussion. To have what I want, I must give up what I need. 

Tomorrow will find me miles from home and the craft I love, but it will come with some different goals in mind. For my own health, mental and physical, I plan to take steps to carry the peaceful attitudes of this vacation with me. Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life and tomorrow will find me even more determined than today. 

This vacation has given me a new dedication to old goals. It's the season to achieve them, one day at a time.

KC

Poseidon's Pleasure is available at Amazon and other online booksellers.

www.amazon.com/Poseidons-Pleasure-Southern-Cross-Book-ebook/dp/B01FL599U0?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc