If We Were Having Coffee on the 23rd of January, 2021

54 Replies

Hello and Welcome! Come on over and sit down! It is a bit frigid out here, but sunny and pleasant. I’ll get a nice steaming mug of super-strong dark roast, a piping cuppa tea or a hot hot cocoa to warm you up as we chat. Cold or not, it is nice to relax out here and stare off into the woods, imagining that we are a million miles from anybody despite that we are in the middle of a village. Oh, and where is that village? Some of you may recognize the photo as being from New Hampshire, though there is little snow on the ground now.

This was another odd week. Monday was a holiday, Martin Luther King Day where we celebrate the great civil rights leader and think about the spirit of the civil rights movement and how far we still have to go with it. I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday (just a checkup and cleaning) and a massage Tuesday evening. There was the inauguration on Wednesday and all that went along with that (I was working, but saw clips and later watched a few videos, like the young lady reading her fantastic poem). The rest of the week was spent playing “Where’s Bernie?” I’ll go with him watching Paul Simonon smashing his bass in that iconic cover photo for London Calling.

I do not own this photo – found on FaceBook

What else? Well, I ran several times this week. I shortened my run in November with the shorter day (have to get back before it gets dark!), but I may need to lengthen it again – I am still fresh when I get back, even doing sprints in the middle. I also did my strength exercise, walked, walked the dogs, played with the dogs (I run up and down steep hills in the woods, chase them, have them chase me, play tug of war, throw balls, etc, etc.). I read, though I am in the middle of a math book. i did some on line studies. I played my electronic instruments. And such.

Big thing is that I totally finished editing my book, The Old Mill. I also formatted it, which was surprising – I usually fight with Word for hours, cursing the entire time, but I finished in 10 minutes. I gathered the bits and it looks like everything is ready to go! Here is a post on it and here is the cover:

Well, that is about it. It was a good week overall. I have a ton of stuff to do this weekend, including getting outside of the house – it is sunny!

Thanks for stopping by. If you have a coffee share I’ll try to stop in and say “Hi!”

Natalie the Explorer is now the host of the weekend coffee share and she is doing a wonderful job. Stop in at this week’s main share page or go to the InLinkz linkup to see all of the other shares!

54 thoughts on “If We Were Having Coffee on the 23rd of January, 2021”

  2. D. Wallace Peach

    I like the cover, Trent! Congrats on completing your editing and formatting. I sometimes have to battle with Word and sometimes don’t. Isn’t that strange? I’m glad you had an easy time. Good luck as you head into publishing!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks, Diana! it is odd how Word sometimes does totally odd things when trying to format, and other times behaves exactly as expected. I wish I knew why! Oh well, just happy that my typical two days of tearing my hair out turned into 10 minutes of setup ;)

      Liked by 1 person

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  4. Prior...

    congrats on the book edits going well and fast and LOVE the cover
    –
    i also had fun seeing some of the where is bernie memes – what fun that was! and the one with him watching the smashing the guitar was fun!

    Liked by 1 person

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    2. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks! It is great to be this close to having the book out!
      The Bernie memes are funny, but hopefully they are drawing to a close. I’ve seen people add him to their own photos for self-promotion, which is stretching it a bit…

      Liked by 2 people

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  5. Cheryl

    Hi, it sounds like you had a pretty good week. It’s also been sunny but cold here in Bulgaria. It’s been nice to sit outside in the garden with the sun warm on my face. I’m looking forward to more of it as spring rolls around. Congratulations on your book! A great achievement!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks! I did most of the artwork – I took the photo of the mill and touched it up so it isn’t exactly like the original, but I used a stock photo of a 19th century man. I changed him quite a bit, so he is unrecognizable from the stock photo.

      Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      lol, I do stay busy all of the time… Also, working from home means I can walk the dogs on my breaks, take two minutes to check something on my home computer, etc. Plus no commute! If I walked 6 km to work, I’d have much less time, but then wouldn’t need to take time out to walk ;)

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  8. Beaton

    Congratulations on The Old Mill looks like everything is going along swimmingly enough 🤣
    Cool cover 💥

    The highlight of my week was tuning into a live broadcast at the exact moment of the speech… I just stumbled by accident and was enthralled I was not surprised at all to see how it’s blown up

    ~B

    Liked by 1 person

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  10. dprastka

    I love your cover, should grab many to your book and the blurb is excellent. I bet it feels so good to see a completion date too!! Thank you for the strong cup of coffee. We are enjoying a cold front with lots of rain (snow in our local mountains). More rain coming next week! Enjoy your weekend! 🤠

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      It is very rewarding :) I hope a lot of people on Amazon are as enthusiastic as the people here. It was a cold weekend, but nice. i hope you had a great weekend and have a wonderful week coming up!

      Liked by 1 person

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  12. Natalie

    Congrats, Trent, on finished editing The Old Mill. The cover is intriguing. Your mentioning “fight with Word and cursing” made me laugh because it’s so true, especially when you need to format an important file. Glad it only took you ten minutes this time. Have a nice weekend! #weekendcoffeeshare

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks, Natalie! Formatting with Word is usually so frustrating! I know MS sends out patches all of the time – I wonder if they did an update to fix some of those oddball things, like adding three pages when I wanted one, and then deleting four when I try to undo! (to get the white-space right, I sometimes have a couple of blank pages, and that seems to confuse Word). Hope your weekend is going well!

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  13. Piglet in Portugal

    A bit late for coffee so I will join you for a cup of hot steaming cocoa under the stars. I like the cover of your new book and if it was presented on deal of the day email from amazon the title and picture would certainly catch my attention. I think that’s half the battle one before people even read the blurb. :)

    I have had a creative week in other ways. I started a new hobby aka pebble painting and finished my first project.

    Since my TKR op I have been trying to maintain a daily walk and 10 mins on house bike, I miss a day and I pay for it the next.

    Unfortunately, they have closed the beaches here due to **** which won’t be mentioned. ;)

    Nite nite…

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      It must be pretty late there, so, yeah, no coffee.

      Thanks about the cover! i do hope people on Amazon do find it as intriguing as the people on the blog seem to!

      Have you posted about pebble painting? I’ll have to stop by and see.

      I’m sure the daily walk and time on the bike do wonders. I hope you can keep it up even after it isn’t necessary for recovery.

      As to the beach, unless your beaches get supper crowded, seems a little silly. Our beaches are open, but there are strict guidelines about keeping your distance and such. If you are outside, socially distanced, etc., your chances of catching or spreading it are pretty small. Oh well, hopefully things will start improving soon.

      Hope your weekend is going well. Nite, nite.

      Liked by 1 person

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  14. Astrid

    Oh, I’m so proud of you for doing all the running, walking, playing with the dog, etc. I really need to get in better shape.

    I will have to watch the clip of that young poet on inauguration day, as I’ve heard so many good thigns about it.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks. I’m one of those people that have to stay active to keep my blood pressure in check. Luckily I love it so much – I’d rather be active than sedentary!
      It would be worth your while to find a clip of the poet. She did a great job.
      Have a wonderful week.

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. Gary A Wilson

        Well, this is different. Yes I did, but it did not post and now Natalie has turned it off. User error is possible but I would not have expected so early of a lock out. Thanks for letting me know Trent. I’ll likely adapt it to use next weekend.

        Liked by 1 person

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          It’s been a super busy weekend, so I haven’t gone through my reader, so I’ll just pop over to your chat in a few minutes. Sorry you had link issues, though.

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  17. robertawrites235681907

    I have been swimming today, Trent. It helps with my stiff back after a week of long hours of work. I love this cover and I’m delighted this book is finished. I am also finished with A Ghost and His Gold and its due to be published on 8 February. I’m so glad to have this one out of the way. I feel like I’ve been working on it forever – it’s been 2 years.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks, Robbie. Glad that you are done as well. I was eyeing the 9th, though I may push it back a week to the 16th. I want to get a proof copy and go through it, just to be sure. I know how you feel – I wrote the rough draft for this in 2017, though I didn’t start working on the next draft until almost exactly two years ago, so about the same time frame.

      I hope you are having a good weekend. Swimming sounds fun (indoor here – it is cold!). Have a wonderful week!

      Liked by 1 person

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          Thanks, I might take you up on the offer :) And, of course, the same goes the other way. When I was getting stuff together, I had the 8th circled (I once read Tuesdays are the best days for a book launch – not sure if it is true). When I saw that was the date you had picked, I pulled back a bit, but looking at were I am (I already ordered the proof, just haven’t seen it, Kindle files are on KDP, etc.), it looks best for me. I don’t think there should be a problem, but I can shift it to Wednesday if you think there is :)

          Liked by 1 person

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