Nicci

October 30, 2015October 30, 2015 Nicci Photography, Writing

Final days of the Halloween Hop and…travel photos #giveaway

Happy Friday!! Thank you to everyone who joined my newsletter, liked my Facebook page, and voted on my Monochrome Madness photos.

It seems like all-of-a-sudden I’m super busy. The truth is I know how I became so busy. I procrastinated…after all I didn’t have to go out and take photos of Lake Tahoe, but then again, I sort of did…know what I mean?

The pressure is self-imposed and comes from trying to clear the decks for National Novel Writing Month, which starts on Sunday. I (hopefully) will be writing the first draft of a new novel called…drum roll…Work in Progress! 😉 In terms of clearing the decks, so far it seems that the faster I go the further behind I get, which was not part of my project planning!

Today I thought I would share with you a few photos from an amazing place. You may have seen these before, but in a way they’re different because I processed them in Lightroom, which is new software for me.

I will start this off with a question for you as a prompt; remember comments get you into my giveaway contest (details below). Is there any place in the world you dream of visiting? Have you been there? Do you plan to go?

For me this place was Easter Island which must have been the earliest place I’ve ever dreamed of seeing. I learned about it in grade school and when I saw those giant stone heads and learned of the mystery surrounding how they were moved from the rock quarries on the mountainside down to the various shoreline positions, I thought it was the most mystical place on the planet. I was lucky enough to get to visit Easter Island in 2012.

Here are some photos of those famous statues. They are in a gallery for you. If you would like to see larger images, just click on one of the photos and you can scroll through.

By the way you can always view travel photos on my Travel page, which has a button at the top of this blog and is also here. They are grouped by place in alphabetical order.

Now for the Halloween hop with Melissa Snark. The giveaways on the main site are:
(1) $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or
(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or
(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or
(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

Here is a direct link to the prizes:
Halloween Hop

Comment here on Nicci Carrera Romance to be entered for: a copy of Love Caters All by me, a copy of Left of the Rising Sun by John Holland, or a copy of Dynamic Range, Leanne Cole’s photography magazine. (You can see this in the side bar on her blog.)

October 28, 2015October 28, 2015 Nicci Photography, Writing

More Halloween Hop and Tahoe photos

I’m still doing the Halloween hop with Melissa Snark and 60 or so other authors. Thanks to all who have commented. Details below.

The giveaways on the main site are:

(1) $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or
(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or
(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or
(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

Here is a direct link to the prizes:
Halloween Hop

Comment here on Nicci Carrera Romance to be entered for: a copy of Love Caters All, a copy of Left of the Rising Sun, or a copy of Dynamic Range, Leanne Cole’s photography magazine. (You can see this in the side bar on her blog.)

I’m trying to decide which of these monochrome photos is best. What do you think?

A black and white image of boulders in Lake Tahoe, Sand Harblr — Sand Harbor Lake Tahoe

Sand Harbor Lake Tahoe, a yellow shrub on a granite boulder — Sand Harbor Lake Tahoe

And now for some color. These are also from Sand Harbor, one of my favorite places in the world.

Thanks, and happy hump day!

October 25, 2015October 25, 2015 Nicci Writing

Seasonal traditions and #giveaway

I’m lucky enough to participate in this holiday tradition, Melissa Snark’s blog hop and giveaway.

You can do simple things to help authors that also enter you in a giveaway. Follow the hop for more fun, great books, and these awesome prizes:

(1) $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or
(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or
(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or
(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

Here is a direct link to the prizes:
Halloween Hop

You’ll have to scroll down for a while to find the Nicci Carrera giveaways. If you already like my Facebook page and subscribe to the newsletter, just enter your name anyway, and you will be entered into the raffle for the prizes. On your way, you can enter as many other authors’ giveaways as you like. Each sign-up equals another entry in the raffle. To find out about the authors, click on their name in the alphabetical list at the top. If you want to skip the list of authors and go straight to the giveaway list, click here:

URL: http://goo.gl/forms/C8m0B2NQ3d

In addition to the blog hop, on my blog, I’m giving away a copy of Love Caters All, a copy of Left of the Rising Sun, (which has a new cover)

or, since I know a lot of you are photography buffs, a copy of Dynamic Range, Leanne Cole and company’s really nice photography magazine. You can see information about this magazine on the sidebar of Leanne’s blog. The magazine is gorgeous and really informative. You can have either the one that is out or the next one that is coming out in November. To be entered in my giveaway, please leave a comment. If you cannot leave a comment, shoot me an email. My contact form is here. If you want my monthly newsletter let me know. All my newsletter subscribers will be entered twice in my giveaway.

Seasonal traditions–I hope to make this Halloween blog hop a new tradition. An old one I like to do every year is give out candy. I would say making homemade pumpkin cake in October is a new autumn tradition, invented since my husband the gardener knows how to grow enough awesome pumpkins to outpace the hungry squirrels in our yard. I want to bake and cook with pumpkin every fall now. It’s really fun. I am going to have a pumpkin cooking theme in this month’s newsletter.

Do you have any seasonal routines or traditions that you enjoy?

October 23, 2015October 22, 2015 Nicci Uncategorized

The writing life, satisfaction, my project management plan unfolding #amwriting

When do we feel satisfaction? When book sales are booming? When reviews are glowing? How about when the editor says “It’s a great book.” Well, my editor did. And I feel a sense of satisfaction which I am nursing today like a glass of fine wine because tomorrow I have to open the file and face the edits. The other feedback was that I repeated a lot of words. Anyway, vacation is really over. I am at that fourth box in the dependency chain for Third Strike’s the Charm, Edit 1. It’s satisfying to see that progress!

I would like to get this done as fast as possible to free up November for National Novel Writing Month. (NaNoWriMo or just NaNo for short.) Are you a writer? Are you doing NaNo this year? It’s really misnamed now because it’s international.

On an educational chat that The Wild Rose Press does every Tuesday for authors (which is open to the public, FYI, and is excellent), my editor was teaching about deep-point-of-view, and she called on me and said that the manuscript she was working on for me right now was in much better shape than the one she edited for me last year. (That one is a good book now, I stand behind it, and reviewers loved it, but it was a grueling editing process for my editor and me.) Making progress with craft is also a source of satisfaction. What gives you satisfaction with your work?

In photo land, I filled up my computer disk pretty quickly once I started taking bracketed shots in camera RAW, LOL! I had to start deleting images. I did buy an external drive, but I still have to clean up photos. Space is not unlimited, so I can’t keep garbage.

In the process of cleaning up, I found some more images to develop for you. These are from San Francisco.

Looking down on a road from the Marin Headlands

I had a lot of fun when I noticed this in the archives. Do you see it? I did try to make it obvious with a lot of cropping…

San Francisco view from Lombard Street (the curvy one) to Coit Tower and the Bay Bridge

Happy Friday. We are driving up to Lake Tahoe today. But once I get there, I have to start editing. That’s okay, I’ll get out to take some photos and hike a bit. What are your plans for the weekend?

October 21, 2015October 21, 2015 Nicci Writing Life

Overcoming career limiting behavior, #amwriting

It’s Wednesday. That means I owe you a blog post! Well I am hot on the heels of a new story idea and it’s big, really big. I’m so excited. So I’m going to repost a blog post where I was featured. The series is Authors Bare All on Casi McLean’s website, and I reveal more behind-the-scenes stuff about the writer’s life, but what I found really interesting were the responses of other authors.

http://casimclean.com/authors-bare-all/nicci-carrera-featured-author/

Along the same lines, in terms of tips, my new metrics tool has been helping me learn what the majority of you like, so I plan to do more tips from the project management treasure trove. I’ll cover metrics for writers in my next PM post.

Speaking of which, I received a recruitment email for a consulting job in my former field, the first offer since early retirement that has interested me, so I stated outrageous requirements. If they want to meet my demands, I might do a short-term project to make some money to support this writing habit. But it is unlikely, unless they are really desperate. If it happens I’ll just work a little. Don’t worry, I’ll still blog, take photos, write, and, most importantly of all, talk to you.

Here are some of my favorite recent photos for your enjoyment.

Happy Hump Day.

October 19, 2015October 19, 2015 Nicci Photography

Monday photos and musings

Happy Monday!

We woke up to some wet ground and lingering clouds, a very welcome occurrence in California. It was so pretty out that I went for a photo shoot, to the Saratoga public library, Central Park, and this heritage house.

Warner Hutton House, Saratoga. 1896, Queen Anne Style

I’m happy to share these views of another library. I hope this place with all its nooks and crannies looks inviting and cozy for you on this fall day.

A nook in the children's section of the public library, Saratoga — A nook in the children’s section of the public library, Saratoga

Two of my favorite things in the world are mountains and libraries, and here the architects of the new Saratoga library brought in the setting through this archway outside one of the doors.

Heritage Lane is a walkway leading on a diagonal from Fruitvale to Highway 9/Saratoga Avenue. The lane is a dirt walking path through the heritage orchard and leads to the lovely library.

Saratoga library and a heritage oak tree

Yesterday was supposed to be very productive, but for some reason I was very tired, so I ended up resting a lot. I did manage to bake a cake for my friend’s birthday, which was really fun. I also read a Writer’s Digest magazine that was focused on revising. It was brilliant, and I marked it with a lot of yellow highlighter.

I hope you are having a good start to your week. I am dreading edits, more and more because the editor is taking so long. I have to keep reminding myself she’s really busy and edits a lot of authors, plus is an author herself. Now I know how my friend feels when I take over a month to edit one of his manuscripts, LOL. My turn to dread the comments. Karma.

However, it’s not all fear and loathing, there are things to look forward to. I was looking forward to taking some photos and doing this blog post, but now that is done, so I need something more to look forward to! So…I’m looking forward to starting to read a new book. I took one back to the library this morning, since I was there. I just couldn’t get into it, and there are so many books, I figure, why force myself? I’m also kind of looking forward to working some more on the new book that I am writing. It is part small town contemporary romance and part disaster movie. Go figure, LOL! I say kind of because I have mixed feelings about the process. Weird, I know, but I feel like a race horse about to explode from the gate and tear around the track, on one hand, and on the other hand, an old cart horse with blinders on trying to move a heavy load. But I am looking forward to reading, so I’ll focus on that.

Do you have anything you’re dreading this week? What are you looking forward to this week?

October 16, 2015October 16, 2015 Nicci Photography, Reading

Reading groups and websites

I tried to create a new website using WordPress and a static page. Wow, that was hard. Either I couldn’t figure it out, or you really have no freedom. I went back over to Wix and was able to do what I wanted, which was to change the colors. Easy peasy. It’s all done now at niccicarrera.com, if you want to take a look, but basically, the colors are like this blog site. I did add the draft blurb for the new book to the Books tab.

What a relief to have another book coming for my website and my blog sidebars! I can’t wait for the cover. As for the edits, I think I’ll take a sedative before opening that email, LOL.

Anyway, I made some colors I really like in Photoshop and put them in color swatches. Then I copied the Hex code for the color from the color in Photoshop and went to Wix, to the background color, opened the custom color option, found the Hex # field, and pasted the number. Done.

WordPress.com doesn’t seem to let you change the colors. You have to use a theme, and they give you a couple of their palettes to go with it. I bet they help keep you from putting up clashing colors, but I want total freedom. I am building swatches from Latin American colors, really vibrant. However I avoided using my beautiful intense red. Even I know one had better know what one is doing before using red. For one thing it looks like blood. I also have a gorgeous green, but I heard you have to be careful with that too. Ditto yellow. That leaves blue, LOL! I did get wild and crazy and put pink in the menu background color. Pink was not in my palette, but I figured pink is safe. Oh…and the blue? Photoshop transformed it into a Web friendly version. I figured I’d better accept the advice on that one. So, basically, I was railroaded into one main color that was a little like my original vision. But I’m happy with the outcome.

I need to start learning about design. My local community college has classes, but I’m going to try the library first. I’d like to learn the principles of color in web design and about visual branding. That way I can have the freedom that comes with knowledge to add to the freedom that comes with Wix.

Today’s photos are from a sunset I caught in Campbell before my romance reading group. I love yellow houses. We are going to paint our house yellow. I’m really excited about that. But our house isn’t wooden like this, nor does it have a white picket fence. My husband says a white picket fence would clash with the style of our house. I think he’s probably right, sigh.

Yellow house at twilight windows reflecting the sunset — A cozy house at twilight

On the bright side, I looked up what is required to build a fence. Since we are Do-It-Yourselfers, no thanks.

I thought the library looked really nice in the light of sunset.

I love libraries.

Well this is it. It’s Friday. Or in the case of Australia, Saturday.

What do you plan to do this weekend? Any cooking, writing, photography, socializing, or sleeping in? Reading? Sports?

October 14, 2015 Nicci Writing Life

The dependency chain and the next step in my publishing process

Check it off! I received the executed contract, which triggered the blurb and cover information tasks. I did those yesterday, and now the edits begin. I still have time to work on other things because the editor has to do her editing, then I’ll have to do everything she tells me to do, LOL.

Dependency chain

A dependency chain shows tasks that depend on something else before they can start. Sometimes the dependencies march along in single file, like in the case of writing a book, which is wonderful. Sometimes they are a lot more complex, like when I was a project manager for documentation for a large software integration project. With writing, the promo phase is going to be more complex than the book-creation part, but not as complex as my former day job.

Up at the top of the chart, where the projects lie, are things that will be checked off. I don’t check off the operations or I’d be making new sheets of paper every day. If you have not yet run screaming from this series, you may remember for operations I had daily, monthly and as-needed columns containing check boxes next to the tasks. I don’t actually check those off for operations, just the projects. That way the paper only will need to be changed once in a while. Projects last a while, so I’ll probably only have to change the paper every two or three months.

It is hump day. How is your week going?

Here is a photo of someone who knows how to enjoy life.

Person watching the sunset in Monterey California — Enjoy life

And one of my favorites from my photography day in San Francisco.

Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco — Palace of Fine Arts

I was in downtown Campbell for lunch today and took another picture of the water tower. I liked the sky today. In our part of the world, the weather is having a hard time realizing it is supposed to be fall. It’s so warm, it might as well be summer. Having a few clouds is unusual for summer, though, so I took it as a sign that the seasons might change soon.

Are you planning to do anything fun this weekend?

October 12, 2015October 12, 2015 Nicci Photography

Waiting to work, waiting to play, and bursting with life

Happy Monday! Woo hoo!

What is up with this woman? you ask. I crawled out of bed early, not super early, but since I went to bed late, I was still tired. I just read yet another article about how important getting enough sleep is, but the photos outside my door beckoned more than bed.

I opted not to go back to downtown Campbell. Instead I went to the parks near me. I found the feeling a park gives is really different from a downtown area. There’s a calmness as the trees stand and wait for light. People are quiet as they walk around getting exercise, as though not wanting to disturb the peace.

Since everyone loved my redwoods the other day, I started there. Standing under these trees in the morning feels amazing. Trees, especially redwoods, have an energy you can feel, if you just pay attention, which photography forces you to do. I noticed a feeling of calm anticipation.

This little guy seemed to be growing in the wrong place, but the big tree allowed its wayward child to do as it wished. The fresh green needles seem to shimmer with excitement.

Ah… then I drove to the other park and found trees reveling in the light and a playground waiting for children.

This fire hydrant spends most of it’s time waiting for work.

My morning photography shoot infused me with excitement instead of dread. I am waiting to work…my edits will be coming soon, and I’ll have to work hard and face the slings and arrows of criticism.

There’s still a little time to play. Today that means finishing up the last edits on the middle grade fantasy I set aside six months ago. It feels like play because the book is now where I want it, so I’m just reading it quickly and enjoying the story.

Do you have a hobby that is purely for fun? Does it energize you?

Look at the dew glistening on these roses. They have been blooming the whole six months since I set aside Mark Taggart and the Circle of Stones to work on Third Strike’s the Charm.

Perhaps the roses have been holding the dream for my co-author and me, so when I return to look closely, I find a precious gem ready to be pruned and shared.

October 9, 2015October 10, 2015 Nicci Writing Life

Overcoming work overwhelm

Do you have the problem of feeling overwhelmed? I think one cause of that feeling is when the stack of stuff we have to do is too big for our minds. The average stack of things we can keep track of in our heads is about seven. We can make lists. Those work really well. But what about when a project has a deadline, and you have to focus on it to the exclusion of almost everything else?

In a way having to focus on just one project is a relief. You know what you have to do every day when you get up: work on that project and go as fast as you can. Ignore everything that can be neglected.

Then the project is done and you feel a rush of relief. Almost immediately, though, all the little stuff rushes in. Part of what makes projects satisfying is you have that sense of completion, whereas with day-to-day stuff, you’ve worked hard, but you have no sense of completion.

It’s crazy-making.

Putting everything on To Do lists is good, but have you ever had that sense that you’re missing the big picture or something important?

I decided to put what I have to do on a big piece of butcher block paper.

SONY DSC

Note: Mr. Sketch are scented pens, which are key!

One of the basic things I learned as a project manager was the difference between projects and operations. Projects have a beginning, middle, and end. Operations are ongoing activities you need to do for the business. I found remembering the difference between projects and operations to be a huge help.

In the midst of a project, you still need to keep those operations going. When you finish a project you need to see all the other ones that are waiting (and going cold). Or, if you have time to work on multiple projects at once, when you finish working on one during the day, you can glance at your list of projects and quickly get back on task with the highest priority one.

On my butcher block paper, all projects are in one color at the top of my paper. The operational stuff is in another color at the bottom. Every morning I walk into that room and look through it all then plan my day.

I think this technique will help me not forget projects or stop doing the day-to-day stuff that keeps things going. I will report back and let you know how it is working.

I am excited about this big-picture technique because I am tired of doing well for a while, then having to focus on a critical project or going on vacation and then losing track of all my good daily habits and forgetting smaller unfinished projects.

Do you feel overwhelmed? How do you keep track of all the things you have to do? Does the idea of separating out projects from operations make things easier to plan?

Now for some fun. I’m really good at making time for that! I am thinking of sending one of these monochrome photos in for Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness. These were the four I processed. I think with the Monochrome challenge, it’s okay to use a single color. Someone did it last week and it was amazing. I just tried it on a photo from Paris. Anyway, which of these do you think I should submit, if any?

Diagram of projects and maintenance — New York

SONY DSC — Grand Central Station, New York