The first half of September is always busy for my family. My husband and I have our wedding anniversary, my youngest child celebrates a birthday, and school ramps up again. Normally, that would be busy enough for us, but to top it all off, last week is when we finally had 10 windows in our house replaced.
This wasn't a cosmetic change, either. Last spring our corner of the Pacific Northwest received a deluge of much needed rain (yay!) which exposed the fact that the windows in our house hadn't been installed correctly and leaked water everywhere (boo!). Two different companies told us that the only way to fix our unintended water feature was to replace the windows, so we signed a contract to have that done in May.
We hoped the windows would get installed during the summer, but as months passed, we found out that glass manufacturing in our area was backlogged (thanks, COVID). As July turned in August, we worried that we wouldn't get our windows replaced before the rainy season started in the fall, but then last week work finally got moving along on the project.
We're now in the middle of Major Home Repair, a quest worthy of the fantasy novels I write (although much less glamorous). We're playing furniture Tetris with our stuff, shifting items around as the contractors swarm different rooms. The kids like sleeping on mattresses in the living room, even if my husband and I aren't so thrilled with indoor camping. As of today, the windows have all been installed, but now comes the process of painting around the edges. Our house basically looks like this in every room (and smells like it to boot):
It's been a pain to install new windows, but I do look forward to not waking up to my floors covered in water again!
In between living in a Home and Garden TV show, I've been madly editing the four books of my next fantasy series. I like to write books in chunks and edit them together, so when you read them, they flow like a well-plotted TV series. It can be slow going as I patch up inconsistencies, but overall, I'm excited how Mom of the Chosen One is turning out. I've sent Book 1 off to my editor to review and will continue to tinker with the other three books so they are as smooth as the paint job around my new windows.
In the meantime, if you haven't snagged a copy of the Magic of Nasci box set, it is 99c/p in the US/UK Amazon stores until September 21. Snag it while you can or tell a friend.
If you'd like to commiserate with home repair, feel free to drop me a line at [email protected].
Take a Break with a New Book!
The Legend of Nyx Omnibus is a fantastic deal at $0.99. Dive into 2000 pages of shifters, vampires, witches, slayers, and slow-burn romance in this complete urban fantasy boxset.
Witch's Jewel is a $0.99 book about Pagan magic. Can a barista keep her magical heirloom safe from murderous crooks?
Liza Fury is an epic and urban fantasy adventure, free with no signups required. Avatar: The Last Airbender Meets The Gateway Trilogy when three notorious prisoners escape a maximum-security prison.
Allure of the Night is a free story in the Stones & Curses universe. It's hard keeping the monster inside of you at bay, especially when you yearn to set it free.
Until next time, happy adventuring!
-DM Fike
Stories by DM Fike
Available in Ebook, Paperback, and Kindle Unlimited
Magic of Nasci Nature Wizard series
A secret society of wizards live in our national forests, protecting nature against supernatural threats. Ina may command the four elements at her fingertips, but she can’t stop the savage creature leaving corpses along the Oregon coast. Will summoning forbidden lightning defeat her enemy, or will the storm destroy Ina first?
Legends of Llenwald Portal Fantasy Trilogy
As Avalon gets pulled toward a secret world where others covet her legendary powers, she must decide whom to trust—an amnesiac fairy, a shapeshifting trickster, or even her former doctor—all of whom may only be exploiting her for their own gain.
0 comments