Good news first: The Sweep of the Heart adaptation from Graphic Audio will be released on Audible& other audio stores on February 2nd, a bit earlier than expected.
Me, in a post about the found dog: Jeaniene, if you are reading this, no, we did not keep the puppy. Stop laughing.
Yesterday: phone rings.
Me: Yes?
Jeaniene Frost: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Also yesterday
Me: I know I saved this file. Where is it?
15 minutes, 2 searches, and eleventy million folders later…
Me: I had unzipped the tax documents into Baldur’s Gate 3 mod folder. I am a supergenius. Won’t Faerun be surprised?
Also, also yesterday
Making an audio book cover for Magic Gifts.
Me, after screwing with it for 2 hours: What about this?
Gordon: why is there a samurai?
Me: What samurai? Which samurai has a double-headed axe?
Gordon: I love you, this is a giant undead samurai.
Me: Grrr.
15 minutes later.
Me: How about now?
Gordon: Yes. Good.
Me, sending the file to Mod R for the second opinion.
Mod R: The model is great, concept great, silhouette of the draugr cool enough. I’m just puzzled by the intense winterscape.
Me, thinking: Do what now?
Mod R: It’s a warm spring in the novella…
Me, texting to the family chat: I spent the whole day making this cover and it’s spring in the book.
Kid 1: OMG, mom.
Kid 1: It’s okay, it’s a comment on global warming.
I need one of those green drinkies.
::cracks her knuckles and goes back to photoshop::
Does it help that I attended a meeting at 7pm yesterday forgetting it was at 6:15pm and couldn’t find the Zoom call invite because I forgot I had set up a separate email for that entire project?
Yes it does. ::shares frustration tea::
You and me both. January has been a rough year. Green drinks for all!
Amen. The light at the end of the tunnel is near. Let’s just hope it’s not a train 🤣
Or the world at the end of the tunnel is on fire.
(Yes I’m feeling soooo positive at the moment)
I was thinking the same thing Mod R! 😄
Also, as long as it isn’t a green juice. My sister got me to try those and I prefer grass to be on my lawn, not in my glass. But if you like them, good for you! 😊
I’m curious if the green drink is green tea, healthy, or Midori liqueur. Sounds like a Midori Sour is called for!
Or a Midori Margarita! 🍸
My mind went straight to grasshoppers.
And there I was thinking of absinthe . . .
I started the day with matcha green tea and ended it with two lime margaritas. Augh, all the feelz.
Oh no to all of it. I had something like that yesterday too.
Reports that usually come out in late February, early March came out yesterday. At first, I was “oh well” until another person who also looks at the same reports asked, “why did we get these reports now, and why isn’t data uploaded for January to the provider data catalog?” Then I had to look at the website for the provider data catalog. Sometimes data aren’t uploaded until the end of the month. So, I explained that to the other person. I also explained to the other person the possibility of circumstance beyond our control may cause the reports not to be available if they came at the usual time.
That could totally be spring in New England. My cousin from Maine and I were telling our cousin from Georgia that 50°F is when you roll the car windows all the way down and we got a huge string of laugh emojis in reply. No dear, we’re serious, 50 is when you roll the windows all the way down. And get out the shorts.
Same for Alaska. We don’t put long pants on until 0-10 F and shorts on by 35-40F. Kids play outside at school until 15F.
Saw a video the other date on Facebook. Didn’t watch the whole thing, but it was about being Midwesterners, and one of the items was “We’re Midwesterners. When the temp hits 35 degrees, we put on shorts.” or something like that.
Another one I liked was, “We’re Midwesterners. Winter means you could be driving on the highway or on a corn field and you’d never know.”
As a midwesterner – Can confirm!!
Regardless, this is still a wonderful looking book cover.
I was confused by the cover at first because I thought Magic Gifts was the one with Julie at the new school and I couldn’t figure out why she had long dark hair. Figured it out when Gordon said the draugr that that’s Kate, not Julie.
Hey, Ilona, I don’t suppose we could get a picture of the vampires in their Skittle colors, could we? 😛
Oh! I feel bad for you but happy for me as this means I am not the only scatter brain in the world! It just is so that my brain handles so many details soooo good. Until it overflows and doesn’t. 🙂
You are amazing, Spring will come. The samurai was funny though also.
I actually thought the first model looked like a Viking, not a samurai if that helps! I didn’t remember the season the story took place in either.
If this makes you feel better, I’m leaving next weekend for a work trip and someone on my team (not me thankfully lol) messed up the amount of rooms needed at one of the hotels for our clients. So there was some last minute shuffling and some of our clients will stay at a hotel next door. Nobody likes being responsible for that kind of mistake but and she kept repeating it was going to cost the company a lot of $$$. But these things happen and we were able to fix it without our clients being any of the wiser.
I saw a Viking, too! Mostly because I couldn’t recall ever seeing an axe that looked like that in an illustration or museum with Samurai armour. I could have gone either way on the helmet!
Some samurai helmets had horns and similar projections on them. True historical Viking raiders never wore horns on their helmets.
At least, they didn’t until Leif Ericsson reported on finding the North American landmass – which he called Vinland.
In a little-known episode, his idiot cousin Sven became jealous of Leif’s new fame and decided to one-up him. Sven told his best (and only) friend: “Here, hold my drinking horns and watch this!” (Horns plural because Sven was a two-fisted drinker.) Then Sven went out and discovered Hollywood. And the rest, as they say, is history… Including having the drinking horns attached to his helmet “to add some flair to that rather drab costume”.
Ah, thanks for the laugh. Needed that!
If only BDH could just read the words and not notice details like the season on the cover…. It could be a metaphor for her ice cold bad ass- ness … 😊
35 heinously expensive heirloom fruit trees deliver on Tuesday. Tractor no worky right now (fuel filter, probably) for the auguring of holes. It could not be more of a 1st world problem, and YES, the shovel still works, but can I have some frustration tea, plsthx?
Frustration Tea for everyone! 🫖
Let’s all of us drown our frustrations in the tea and read really good books. 😀
With or without salt? 😉
Just saw that on the a.m. news – would prefer my usual sugar….🫖
Tea was this morning. I’ve moved on to chocolate.
I feel you. Just left doc. Two nasal swabs (No flu, no covid) later to just get in the building – and- no, I don’t blame them for doing so. Hit with multiple shots for the nasty sinus infection. Feeling rather like a distraught cow on a feed lot, as I am not sure if the pharmacist is going to give me pills or an ear tag.
I’d offer hugs but no one wants to get within hugging distance. May the gods of fortune cut you a break.
Oh, you definitely need Frustration Tea! 🫖
A nasty cold has been going around here. I’ve got one of those floor pillows with the arms and stick it in my bed so I can sleep sitting up and can breathe. It’s really bulky but it works if I’m tired enough. I hope you feel better soon.
it’s a beautiful giant samurai. thank you for a much needed laugh.
I read this post twice because it was so good, pics and all. Doing all the things all the time is hard. Also so glad to see that authoring is still chaos no matter what stage we’re at.
Yeah, blame it all on climate change. It works for me. Disbelief? SUSPENDED!
The calendar in my head had a brief malfunction and I was convinced that there was another weekend in January after this one. I have reports that are due “at the end of January” and ended up physically touching the paper calendar chanting”uh oh there goes the weekend.” Best wishes for all our brains
Every Spring has a “winter moment “ . We had one in June , living in Upstate NY at the time. Or stick with the global warming reasoning,
Thank you so much. I’ve been waiting for a Magic Gifts audiobook for years. It’s the only one missing from my IA collection.
Lmaooooo! You are the best. I can’t remember how many times I had the “Thank goodness it is done!” moment followed by the “Oh crud, I messed up and have to do it again 😭.” It kicks rocks. Big dirty ones, with bugs…
Hey, a warm spring can turn into single digits and 2″ of ice in 48 hours. Welcome to January in the South!
It was 13F at my house Monday morning. High this afternoon was 71F. And it’s maybe 100 miles south of the Mason-Dixon line.
I’m imaging the majestic and menacing Tuna shrouded in moonlight instead of the samurai and the draugr on the audio cover -lol
🤣🤣🤣🤣 hope it didn’t take long to change the background
I have spent 4 days and over 4 hours on hold trying to switch cell providers, and I am not done yet, while running a business and a household
There’s frustration tea, then there’s misery tea… Dealing with cellphone providers gets you a cup of each
I was never able to convince Verizon that I wasn’t trying to commit fraud by divorcing, moving out of state, and reclaiming my maiden name (which was legally my middle name for 34 years of marriage). I’m currently on my brother’s family plan because Verizon’s fraud department has apparently never heard of anything like this happening ever.
What is it with phone companies today? I spent 3+ hours today with my provider trying to get my iPhone and Apple Watch to talk to one another. Finally worked. Set my phone ringtone and now it quacks when someone calls. Hey, if it sounds like a duck …
I hear your frustration on cell phone companies. I was on a family plan with my brother (who passed away 2 yrs ago) after several hours on customer service calls and online chats… I finally gave up.
I am listed on the info as the administrator of the phone and I pay the bill but I still can’t get them to put it in my name. So I freak out a few people I call that knew my brother because the call shows up as from him. I can chuckle about it now and the people that count know it is me.
Bless their pointy little heads….
Which proves that even if someone graduates last in their class at law school, there is still a job for them in the telecommunications industry.
Miscommunication between the author and the cover artist is often a problem.
Even when they’re the same person…
🙂
Hilarious and too true!
Sounds like Mod R should have kept quiet this time.
😀 I suppose it’s in the realm of possibility, although there are people who have been waiting on me to shut up for decades lol.
It’s better that it’s noticed now in-house as opposed to after it’s already released 🙂
It is Mod R’s job to save us from ourselves. That’s literally why we hired her. The cover should match the content of the book. 🙂
I’m so excited, my temp was 97.7 on Tuesday. After months of low grade fever, I finally feel better with some energy. Now if everyone at work would just get well too! It’s been months since we’ve been fully staffed two days in a row. It’s supposed to be 60s next week, maybe I’ll buy mulch and get ahead of the weeds around my raised beds. Even better news the correct part showed up for my car and now my son can get started on fixing the body work. Life is looking up!
well, the Draugr are from Scandinavia, and to tell the truth, our spring does look a lot like that.
Kid 1 is a gem. 😂
I didn’t realise everyone’s January was being equally absurd. Thought it was just me.
A week or so ago we had 8 inches of snow. This week is it high 60s at 11pm when I go to work. It’s insane.
Love you. Hope it gets better! 🤣💕
I am totally here for the Frustration Tea. Just hand it to me as I hide underneath the blanket.
And maybe some cookies?
Ok, you’ve got the cover done for a new book. One based in the winter with a samurai that carries a double headed ax.
I’d buy it.
I was timing how long it would take until this comment! 2 hours 😂
LOL! You know your fellow members of the BDH well, Mod R! We are always looking to try to snag House Andrews into MORE fiction and then even MORE.
I read Ilona’s assertion the other day that Hidden Legacy is complete and that they never actually promised us an Arabella trilogy, this was something the BDH just decided we were owed. Okay, guilty! 🙂
lol
ooh, facing off against an undead monster while spring blossoms swirl around the clearing… definitely not a samurai theme… go for it!
What if they’re cherry blossoms?
I love you, Ilona, so don’t think I’m laughing at your misery, but you are entertainingly funny when things are going wrong. It’s a good trait to have, you see the lighter side of things. 🙂
Oh, what the heck; just photoshop in some crocus or siberian iris blooms and Voila! it is Spring! (((Hugs)))
I need the frustration tea too!! My husband decided to extend his stay in the UK (we are US based). I went to FedEx last week to mail his meds and extra contact lenses to him. Per FedEx, not a problem to send them. I could not, however, send the candy for V-day. No worries– I give the candy to the helpful FedEx employee.
Today, FedEx calls and needs a local # to contact him– I sent them to his hotel…he doesn’t have a UK number. FedEx finally accepted an email address. Had to scramble and get copies of receipts for contacts and meds we bought a while back. I’m hoping he gets everything before he goes to Scotland on Monday.
At this point, I should’ve just flown everything over there to him (myself included!).
I’ve seen March days like that 😉 but yes, I get the frustration! Hope it gets better soon!
The good news is that tomorrow is Friday, and Roman is coming to call.
So you’ve inadvertently created a new BG3 class: Accountant. 👍🏻
Lawful Evil for sure, if we’re mixing things up anyway 😉
I feel you. Does it help that I once worked 5 night shifts straight with overtime, so 10 hours each day (customer support for a certain mouse) and then when I took my 30 minutes lunch break on the last night shift, I fell asleep on top of the keyboard.
I woke up 2 hours after my supposed end of the shift to the voice of the morning supervisor asking me what happened.
Bless her we passed it extra overtime.
Awww, I realized at end of work day, last Saturday, I’d dated several documents…correct day/ month/ umm 2014. Of course front staff had already scanned said papers 🙄 I’ll join the fuzzy brain group.
May the green drink(s) help one and all.
Oh I love you❤️you brighten my days 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I can’t stop laughing.
Ouch some days are painful on the brain
I was busy madly scurrying around the other morning (making breakfast/feeding impatient little kitties/packing lunches/etc.)
I tried to tell my daughter to have a good day at school and that her packed lunch was on the counter, while also shooing the naughty kitties off of the table (where they know they don’t belong!) It came out “have a good lunch and stay off of the table please!” 🙄
I worried about mixing up my words like that (I know, it was silly to worry but dementia runs in my family and I always go there whenever mixed up words or other such stuff happens.)
My husband helpfully pointed out I’ve been saying stuff like that for the almost-40 years he has known me!
Pass the Frustration Tea and cookies please! 😁
My brain now has the giggles and they are occasionally issuing forth. Coworkers looking my way and I just say it was something I read.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Grr…. I’m retiring in July from a job I’ve been at for 25 years. We’ve gone thru a dozen different file systems/ storage options so I have stuff saved everywhere, deliberately and accidentally. It seems like I start every day with the thought ‘where in the heck did I save that file’…..
As far as the covers go, both are visually awesome so the BDH would say waste not, want not. Just make us a story to go with 😄- Next year’s holiday serial????
Just want to express my sincere appreciation for the Roman serial! It is the perfect end of the week treat for the grey days of January!
❤️
Oh my, one of “those” days. Sorry! They are so very frustrating.
So glad you can share stuff like this. Then I don’t feel like such an idiot when I hunt for an hour for something or find out I’m doing something all wrong.
Thank you for the chuckle!
Green drink identified…
Ingredients required…
Melon Soda (Inventory)
Vanilla Ice-cream (Cold Storage)
Cherry (…)
Side-quest: Acquire Cherry
Reward: [Melon Soda Float] Unlocked
Sounds yum!
Also, for those who have the cold/bronchitis bug (it’s that time of year) here is the advice one of my patients gave me when I was fighting a bad cold:
Drink a hot toddy. What is a hot toddy I ask?
He looked me straight faced and said ‘Fix your tea, get a lemon, and a bottle of whiskey, and SIT DOWN. Because you’re not getting up anytime soon after you have your second one. 😝😝😝
I have heard Southern Comfort works in them too. Mom said Grandma made her hot toddies with rum. As a child she had bad asthma. Not something we would do nowadays but she was born in the 1920’s!
He forgot the honey. Hot toddies are an old southern US remedy for colds and flu: hot tea with honey, lemon, and a dollop of whiskey or brandy. Leave out the hot tea for a cough syrup.
LOL. From years ago:
Grandma’s famous cold remedy –
First you squeeze the juice out of two bottles of bourbon …
I made many separate file folders with internal folders to keep things organized in my work computer.
Stuff still ends up in the wrong place.
On top of that, I am a Geezer so I print out my emails and stick them on brads for each physical file.
Stuff still ends up somewhere in the piles on my desk.
Now it’s Tax and Law Society Filing time and I can’t find anything.
Why is organization 95% of all work? And why is Organization my own Karron. Full of the Crrupted (files and file folders). And no Dina or Sean in sight.
Sigh
LOL!
Thanks for the laugh – been there, want the green drinkie too!
My one year old niece had poured a lake’s worth of water down herself at stay and play on Tuesday, I’ve got her coat on to leave (against her protests), she’s saying goodbye nicely, I’m walking out to get the buggy when all the adults start calling me back.
Turns out I was leaving with just my socks on and had left my shoes back in the cloakroom. I then walked through with our coats on, put my bag on, said goodbye, opened the gates, and all without noticing my lack of footwear.
I recently shared a meme along the lines of “Hard to believe that tomorrow is already January 55th.” At least we are all wildly flailing through the month together.
Green drinks for everyone. Unless they really like blue, then they can have blue. I’m ok with that.
Good luck
It just means you have to write a new novella set in winter, and then you can use your awesome design for the cover of that book! Lol
ahh sending huggles
Yes, one of those days! Thanks for sharing your trials, helps me with mine!
the green in the drink is Midori – a melon flavor liquor that goes great with citrus
You poor thing. That’s totally something I would do.
Thank you for this! I giggled for several minutes because this is my life most days and it’s good to know I’m not alone.
Looks like spring fog to me. Winter skies in the Northwest are either crystal clear or completely covered by clouds. We get that wispy look only when the ground is wet and the sun has been shining during the day.
*hugs*
A real downer of a day. Nobody I know died, but that’s about the only positive in the whole day. I just spent 2 hours before heading off to bed listening to sad Russian songs on YouTube. No one does sad songs like the Russians.
lol,, it could be a late cold snap in spring…. just because you might not have described snow in the book, didn’t mean it wasn’t there… now needing to go back and reread small magics to see what weather was described #anyexcuse
Magic Gifts is in Gunmetal Magic, not Small Magics 🙂
nah, totally normal – nature hates us
now: we had a downpour of rain and not even an hour later a snow blizzard, go figure
Using AI illustrations disenfranchises the artists whose art was stolen to make it and who won’t be commissioned by people using the thefts. Surely you don’t support AI books written using your bibliography? I’m disappointed.
The cover mock up above is a photoshop composite, using neostock for the female model and adobe stock for the rest. The adobe stock images were found using Exclude AI filter.
Here are the images used for the actual cover:
https://stock.adobe.com/images/calm-romantic-light-in-foggy-forest-halloween-spooky-place/457067408
https://stock.adobe.com/images/viking-silhouette-silhouette-of-viking-wearing-bear-skin-holding-an-axe-the-silhouette-of-viking-in-a-helmet-with-double-axe-and-knife/635131903?asset_id=635131903
https://www.neo-stock.com/-/galleries/photo-stocks/urban-fantasy/elena-cinematic-thriller
Had I generated this cover with AI, it wouldn’t have taken half a day to make it.
FYI, photoshop now comes with its own AI that will remove backgrounds, generate background in an extension of content-aware filter, etc. So whether we like it or not, AI is here to stay as a tool.
Maybe don’t assume so much and be less disappointed. Perhaps phrase the comment as a question, asking if we used AI, rather than an accusation or rebuke. Might help.
You and you wife are so patient. Thank you.
It’s a beautiful cover. Would it be so hard to shift a few elements to depict a springtime landscape?
On Wednesday, I got lost on the way into work. Driving along, la la la, and it occurred to me that it was taking a LONG time to get to work, which was weird ’cause traffic wasn’t *too* bad. Then I realized that I didn’t recognize any of the exits or the scenery and where the h*ll am I, anyway?!? Called up the maps on my phone and i’d overshot my exit by almost 15 miles.
I’ve been working here 7 months. But this is a thing that occasionally happens to me.
Nice job on the cover!
Funnily enough, this is the colour palette I had in my head as well. I guess it’s all the fog etc…!
Sorry you had to deal with unfounded accusations. If this person followed you they would know your stance on AI…
I had a call at 10 am that didn’t start until 1030 and I was kicked off of it the first time around. And the call should have been a short call and went 1.5 hours.
Le sigh 😔
Hello! I saw that Humble Bundle is selling an audiobook bundle with Clean Sweep and Sweep of the Heart (and a bunch of other books, incl. ones by Jeaniene Frost). Is House Andrews aware of it/approve of it?
Not sure how it all works, just wanted to bring it to your attention.
Hi Elena,
Yes, the Humble Bumble sale is approved and we will have a promo for it soon too 🙂.
Thank you for watching out for House Andrews!