First, let me apoligize for not keeping up with the blog challenge. No excuse other than I've been doing other things and really haven't had anything interesting to say.

Next, let me apologize for any toes I might step on or feelings I might hurt. First, this is just my opinion, and second...it's my blog. If you don't like it, don't read it. Sorry if that hurts but that's the way it is.

Now on to my post for today. 

Remember back years ago when John Locke got caught paying for book reviews? The whole publishing world went bezerk. And so did all the readers. They were totally crazed. It was the worst thing that had ever happened in the book world.  I don't know all the details, I try to avoid drama most of the time, but apparently he paid for "fake" reviews and even paid some people to buy his book and review it.  Shame on him.

Now, however, it's okay. An author can pay Kirkus  $425 for a 250 word review or $575 for a 500 word review.

Or, pay $225 to IndieReview for a 300 word review. 

BlueInk Review charges $395 - $695 for their review depending on how soon you want it. 

Self-Publishing Review is a bargain at $149 for a 500 word review. And you can pay $299 and get your review posted as a "Lead Story" on their site.

Now, all these say they can't guarantee a positive but here's the thing. If I'm paying for a review, especially several hundred dollars, I want one I can use. I want a review that will help me sell my book. If I know I'm going to get a negative review, or a not so great one, then I'm not gonna pay.  I think as shoppers you'd have to agree. Why buy something you might not be able to use. These reviewers know this too. Too many negative reviews will hurt their income. And that's not a good thing for them. Especially when most of their income is made from the selling of reviews.

So, what's the difference in paying for one of these reviews and what John Locke did? Well, obviously, his reviews were fakes. But...if  you get a glowing review from Kirkus, for example, and your book sucks - is that not a fake review also?  

And yes, it does happen. I personally know someone who received a wonderful review from Kirkus and his book is full of typos, errors, grammar issues, and just plain unreadable.  Which makes me seriously question any review from a paid site. I'm not sure what the answer is though.

I mean, Amazon won't let anyone I'm connected with on social media review my books because it might not be an honest review.  But is a review that's been paid for honest? 

I understand it takes time to read a book and review it. I totally get the time involved. And I get that reviewers should be compensated in some form or fashion for that time.  Again, I don't have any answers. I'm just tossing this out for discussion.

So, when is it okay to pay for a book review? How do you feel about the subject? 

And, just why is it so hard to get readers to review a book? I mean, Amazon makes it real simple when you finish a book on Kindle. How long does it take to comment that "I loved this book." or "Couldn't put it down, had to read all night until I finished it."?  And yeah, that punctuation is probably wrong. 

Do you review books you've read? All of them or just the ones you love?  Honestly, I don't review every book. I'm trying to be more diligent about it though. 

Let me know what you think...I really do want to know. :-)

Yep, that's right. There is no "day 3" post. And I'm cool with that. I might make it up later, I might not. We'll see.

So, today is the 4th of July. Later, Mom will come over, we'll do burgers on the grill, and maybe play some mahjong.

Speaking of mahjong...I can't figure out how to pick which pattern to go for. I always manage to pick the wrong one. My daughter says just to see what tiles you have in your hand and pick the pattern that you have the most of. HA! Like that really works.  Maybe one of these days I'll figure it out. I'm not holding my breath though.

Now, Spoons...I excell at Spoons. I'm a master of sneaky spoon aquisition.  I just slip that spoon from the center of the table while passing cards like crazy. I love it when someone happens to notice a spoon is missing and freaks.

I'm pretty good at Dominoes too.  In fact, hubby won't play Dominoes with me.  He did teach me to play Backgammon when we were first married. I got pretty good at that too.  Thing is, when you teach someone how to play a game, especially one of strategy, you teach them your strategy most times. It's been a long time since we played Backgammon...maybe I'll challenge him to a game. :-)

So, what's your "game" plan for the day? Whatever you do, enjoy your day with family and friends. 

Welcome to another "ultimate blog challenge. I'm off to a not so stellar start since there are only 2 1/2 hours left of the first day and I'm just now getting a post up. 

Things have been super busy the last couple months.  Bodhi is growning like crazy. He's still very much a heathen, but I totally love him. We've officially started training, and he's doing well.  In fact, my youngest daughter has taught him to bring the mail from the front door to me. Naturally, I've helped with the process by having treats ready to reward him for his work. :-) He's very pleased with himself.  He's a recent picture taken while working at Petco. 

Isn't he just the cutest thing! Today, he turned 7 months old.  Hubby originally wasn't thrilled about another dog, especially a Malinois, but yesterday he told me in a couple years he wants to get a female...and she is to be his dog. :-) 

I'm really excited about our training. It's going well. I'll share more pictures later.


My oldest daughter and I are getting serious about learning Spanish. I had two years of Spanish in high school and loved it but that was a LONG time ago. We are using a couple apps so if you want to join us, that would be awesome. Right now, we are using Drops, Memrise, and Duolingo.  We'd love to have some folks to chat with so join us. 

Summer is in full swing in Texas. Yesterday it make it up to 100 for the first time. It's gotten close a couple times though. Mom lives at an apartment that has a pool so we've been making use of it. I really enjoy "exercising" in the water.

Oh, and I've recently started eating Keto. I'm sure I'll be posting about that this month too. It's made a big difference already.

And, since Bodhi can tell time and is ready for his evening walk, I've got to get this posted and do the walk thing.

Hasta mañana.

Today I'm thinking about my comfort zone. Mostly because I've had to step out of it several times lately. I don't know about you, but I like my comfort zone...it's comfy. It's safe, secure, smooth sailing,...comfortable. But that's also the problem...

Yep. For there to be growth, there has to be change and change doesn't happen in a comfort zone. Change isn't comfortable. Change is scary, change is hard, and change is often painful. But...

The magic happens outside the comfort zone. In fact, a lot of great things happen outside the comfort zone.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to live in my comfort zone. It's not really even a nice place to visit when you think about it. I want all those things that happen outside the zone. Sure, it's going to be scary, and hard, and it might hurt. But I'm tired of settling for just surviving and mediocrity.

What about you? Are you stuck in your comfort zone, stuck in a rut, running in place?

How about stepping out for a bit...I know you'll love it.

That's right...I didn't get a post up every day.  But it was only 3, so I'm not going to complain. Not with the distraction of puppy. Yesterday, he made a trip to the vet...seems he has an "overgrowth" of bad bacteria and that has been causing his issues. He's got meds and is doing much better. He actually slept last night...which meant so did I.

Looking back on this month, I've figured out several things that were much needed. I'm working on a plan for some of them, waiting on others. I've set some goals and clarified a few things in my mind. It's been a good month.

And even though I didn't blog every day, I still have more posts up than when I started. Plus, I've made a couple "virtual" friends that I'll be keeping up with. I've found some good blogs I'll keep reading, ever so often.

I won't be blogging every day after today...I'm thinking maybe on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That shouldn't be too hard to keep up with.  I'll just have to write when puppy is napping. :-)

Will I be doing the next challenge? I think so. But, I'm thinking a theme of sorts. And I'll try to get some posts done early so they'll be ready.

I want to thank everyone who stopped by, left a comment, tweeted, shared, liked, etc. I'll be drawing for the prize winner in a couple days. I gotta get all the entries together and that may take a bit. There is still time to enter so...comment and/or signup for newsletter.

See y'all next challenge....and Friday. :-)

...and I just can't hide it.

Today's the day. We're adding a new member to the family.  I think I'm ready. Not as ready as I could be, but ready enough. I hope.  I've been preparing for this day for months. I've done some reading, I've studied the dvds, and done the what-do-we-name him thing. Now, it's just a matter of waiting.

He's scheduled to arrive at 3:30. I'll be posting pictures on Facebook soon after. Y'all can find me at JeanLauzier if you want to keep up.  Or, I can guarantee he'll make it to the blog soon. :-)

Today is National Pie Day! That's right, there's a special day to celebrate pie. Personally, I think pie should be celebrated everyday, but that's probably just me.

Thinking about pie, though...  I do like pie. And when it comes to picking my favorite, I'm not sure I can.  I mean, in the south, nothing can beat a really good pecan pie.  But again, as a chocoholic, I enjoy a slice of chocolate pie with a glass of cold milk. Yum! Which just reminded me, I have a recipe for a chocolate pecan pie that is the best of both worlds. I definitely need to dig that out and make a couple.

Mom used to make, special for me, a lemon ice-box pie that even now, I'd eat the whole thing in a day, if not adulting.  And her coconut pie, one to swoon for.  Made from scratch, no box pudding mix...oh my!

And of course, the sweet potato and pumpkin pies that get served during the holidays. 

Let's not forget those "pot pies" either. A hearty meal in pie form. And pizza is called a pie in some places. And when I do a thick-crust, homemade one, it definitely could be called pie.

Now that I've totally made myself hungry, I'm going to go see what's in the kitchen for lunch. There is no pie, but maybe I'll fix that. :-)

What's your favorite pie? 

Today, I was a bad blogger. I thought about blogging several times. I even came up with several topics that would work.  However, I just didn't. Mainly because, it's Sunday, and Sundays are taken up with church and church stuff. And of course, the required afternoon nap. Plus, I've been reading a new book. 

So...as soon as I click post, I'm going back to my book.  Here's the question...

What are you reading.  Share in the comments and be entered to win stuff. You can check under the "contest" category for all the info.

Me, I'm reading A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas.  My oldest daughter got me started on the series. The first one is, A Court of Thorns and Roses. These are so good. I'd sit and read from start to finish if I could.  I wanted to read all night last night but had to be up early today. This is definitely a series you need to start with the first, but I highly, highly recommend them.

​Some of y'all aren't going to like this but...

We need to be supporting our police forces and officers.  These guys and gals are doing a darn tough job that most of us don't want to be doing. They deserve our respect and support.  Yeah, yeah, I know...there are a few bad ones out there.  But you know what...there are a few bad accountants out there. There are a few bad postal workers out there...heck...we even have a phrase for it...going postal. There are a few bad car salesmen, bad doctors, bad lawyers, bad electricians, bad plumbers, and so on. There are bad folk in every job or career.

Here's the thing...  When a cop gets up in the morning and kisses his family goodbye, he doesn't know he'll ever see them again. When a cop pulls over a car with a taillight out and approaches...she doesn't know who or what is waiting in the vehicle. It may be a simple, "I didn't know it was out." kind of thing. Or, it may be a criminal with a gun who has decided he's not going to go to jail.

Not long ago, we rented a car for a roadtrip. We had barely made it out of town when a trooper pulled me over. Come to find out...the rental car had two different plates on it...from out of state. And switching plates is one thing drug runners do.  When he approached us, he didn't know if we were out of state drug runners...we were on a road noted for that...he had no clue he'd meet two authors on the way to a book event with a rental car.  We treated him with respect, answered his questions, cooperated with his instructions, and it all worked out fine. 

Here's where my 2 cents come in...

If you don't want cops to pull you over while driving...obey the law.  Don't speed...make sure you use your turn signals, drive safely, etc.

If a cop does pull you over...don't be a smartass. Treat them with respect. If they ask you to do something, don't give 'em any lip...just do it.  If you think you are in the right...wait and tell the judge. 

If you don't want to be arrested and have to deal with the police...don't break the law. It's that simple.

A couple years back, my daughters and I took a women's safety course. One of the cool things we did was to get to use the FATS...FireArms Training Simulator. This was so cool. What it does is project an image on a big screen and you "role play" the simulation.  For example...approaching someone in a parking lot, or the cute guy standing on the corner, or even the domestic disturbance.  It was an interesting, enlightening, intense experience. Unfortunately, the first scenario...I died. It was a well-dressed, well-groomed gentleman, he wanted to chat so we stood on corner and all of a sudden, he pulled a gun from behind and killed me. Let's just say, I shot first and asked questions later next time.

Cops are doing a tough job. They deserve respect and admiration. They deserve our support and consideration. If not for cops, our cities would be overrun with crime and complete chaos. Let them know you got their back...tell 'em thanks and let them know they are appreciated.

,Another confession...I'm a grazer. I'm not one for sitting at the table for three meals a day. I even raised my kids as grazers. When they were little, I kept a container of peanut butter crackers on the counter and when they needed a snack, they were free to grab a couple.  Until the day I moved couch away from wall and found pile of ritz crackers with no peanut butter. Little heathens. 

I also tend to have something nearby when I do serious writing.  Lately I've become hooked on the "very berry" sour gummy worms. I've even gotten my writer daughter  started on them. :-)

That said, I don't eat bag after bag. Especially since I'm working on getting healthier this year. But...a few, ever so often, with restraint, isn't so bad.

I also like plain m&ms...and those Brookside dark chocolates with the pomegranate  centers. And the Hershey's almond things that come in a bag...

       What's your favorite snackage for writing?  And don't you just love that word...snackage? Mmmm...snackage.  I need more snackage.