Home Articles posted by Erin Zarro (Page 8)

Starting Out with a Pain

Yeah, so 2019 has started off kind of rough for me. But to be fair, this all started late last year. It’s just carried over into this year. So, about six months ago or thereabouts, I began having pain just above my right heel whenever I would stand up. Because I typically have random aches and pains that end up being nothing, I didn’t even think about it. But then my mom saw me hobbling around and asked what was wrong. I was like, “Oh, my heel hurts. No biggie.” Well, because she has heel spurs, she was pretty worried. And then it progressed to all the time. So it was time to see the doctor. He diagnosed Achilles Tendonitis, told me to rest it/ice it/take Motrin and call him if it wasn’t better in two weeks. Well, it ended up being longer because the holidays were coming up and being that I don’t drive, I had to wait for someone to take me. So it was in October that I finally saw the doctor again. He wanted an MRI; my insurance squawked and made me get an X-ray, another find-a-ride-ordeal. I finally got my MRI right after Thanksgiving. My doctor’s office called me and told me the results: Achilles Tendonitis (you don’t say?), edema (swelling), and a complete tear of the anterior something-something ligament. In other words, a very severe sprain. Now, most people who aren’t me probably know when it happened. They either fell, twisted it funny, or…

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Technology Hates Me

A year or so ago I talked about the perils of technology. And eerily, I posted that on November 22, 2016. This particular week in November must be my personal bad-luck week or something. So, I’ve been working on a secret project for almost two years. The release date has been delayed so many times due to factors beyond my control. I finally finished the final edits on it last week. I was starting to get excited because I realized I could maybe swing a release before Christmas. Last night, I also realized that I needed to make a few tweaks before sending it to the proofreader (first time hiring a proofreader; usually my editing is done in-house by one of our marvelous editors). This project is independent of TDP so yeah, I had to hire one. 🙂 Anyway, I was supposed to get it to her yesterday and thought I could do the tweaks and send it off. I should really know better by now. Maybe my excitement has made me forget all the other times that technology screwed me over. So, before I get into the story, you need to know the backstory. I am obsessive about backups. An incident in college where I lost an 8-page paper right before it was due because of a rogue Macintosh made me realize just how easy files can be sucked up into the ether with no hope of return. So, since then, I have made no less than four backups…

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Sun Touched

Part 4 A free serial set in the Fey Touched universe Get caught up:  Part 1| Part 2 |Part 3 Part 5 DAY 2 — CONTINUED Ry had become a ball of agony, moaning and screaming and swearing. I continued to feel the pull of my healer self, but resisted. I couldn’t take his illness into myself. And he was the enemy…except…he didn’t feel like the enemy anymore. Maybe it was because I’d impersonated his lover, Ava, to give him comfort. Or maybe it was because I felt closer to figuring out a solution. So I was totally unprepared when there was commotion near my cell again. “Ivy!” a familiar voice called. “Where are you?” Several people in leather headed toward me. Hunters wore leather— “Sweet Artemis, it’s you!” I moved up to the bars of my cell and got a good look at who was there. Three people: Jane, my sparring partner; Tanya, our falcon-caller; and Josh, Tanya’s mate. My kin. My tribe. I couldn’t contain my happiness; it was too big for mere flesh. My wings exploded out of my back and Jane laughed. That happened to me sometimes. Okay, fine. It happened more often than not, when I was happy. I made them disappear. “Ivy?” Ry murmured roughly. “What’s—” “It’s my tribe,” I said, glancing his way. “They’ve come to rescue me.” “No! You can’t leave!” “Um, yes—” “He’s right.” The woman who’d been with Ry that first day stepped out of the shadows. Jane palmed her…

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Random Stuff in My Head

Usually I can come up with a subject to blog about fairly easily, but today I feel like everything I came up with was repetitive or boring. So I give you this, a random mishmash of sh$% inside my head. You’re welcome. 🙂 Random thought #1: Last night, I dreamed I was in a room and there was an earthquake. The entire room shook (and maybe the whole city?). In the dream I screamed, and in real life, I screamed too. I woke my husband up and he held me for a bit. Say it with me: “Awwwwww.” Random thought #2: I made a very odd yet intriguing discovery last night around 12:30. I had a horrific TN pain attack and needed a painkiller, and I wondered idly if it was tied to my hormonal cycle. I remembered reading something about that before. So because I’m a bad ass and have an app and a log of all my pain for the past two years, the information was literally at my fingertips. I did a quick cursory glance so I don’t know about all of it, but from what I read so far, there is definitely a correlation. I’d like to eventually put it into a spreadsheet or graph or something so I can see it all together (one day, she says. One day when she’s not slammed with work). Random Thought #3: I just landed two new clients, yay! Both are amazing and awesome and I am so happy.…

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5 Lessons I’ve Learned From Freelancing

I recently hit the year anniversary of my layoff, July 28th. I was sitting in the dentist chair and I remembered how scared I was that my life was changing in a major way. I no longer had a job, a job I’d had for the past sixteen years. I grew up there—I was just twenty-five when I was hired. I was forty-one when I was laid off. So, if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you’ll know that I made the decision to work from home. Freelance editing and virtual assisting were my two main niches. I am now looking at freelance writing as a possibility, too. So what have I learned this past year? #1 Fear is a part of the process. There’s no way around it. It’s a huge change. I’ve spent hours just looking for clients with the ever-present threat of not having enough money to pay our bills. I’m happy to report that that has not happened yet. But the fear is real. Just not going to an office was an adjustment, too. Most people say we’re lucky. And we are. But after twenty years in office work, I literally had to relearn how to work. There are always distractions and things I never thought about because I wasn’t home. Now, things are different. Not bad. Just different. I was scared that I’d never be able to make the transition. That I was so hard-wired for office work that my brain wouldn’t be able…

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Adventures in Camping

It’s been awhile since I talked about camping. Hubby and I bought a pop-up camper about four years ago as an anniversary gift to ourselves. We’d gotten tired of tenting it, and after a grueling nearly 100-degree week up north, we decided that things needed to change. We’ve camped every year since, and it’s been amazing. We usually go at least once a month through summer and we usually go for one big one-week trip at some point. We got back from one such trip yesterday. It was a new campground to me, Sleeper State Park in Caseville, Michigan, about 2-3 hours away from where we live. Hubby had been there previously. It’s a beautiful place. One funny thing is that there was the Cheeseburger Festival going on that weekend, and guess what? The entire campground had filled up fast. Everyone had flamingos on their sites, and pictures of cheeseburgers and drinks. I guess this was a thing. So we ended up snagging the very last open site, which was very far from the bathroom. Regretfully. I know this sounds utterly ridiculous, but I have issues. So sometimes I need to get to the bathroom quickly. So hubby always tries to get us close. Doesn’t need to be steps away…but it’s helpful if it’s not a hike and a half. Last year, we had the same situation. The map on the website made it look like our site was next to the bathroom, but lo and behold, when we got…

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Fireborn

Reaper Girl Chronicles, Episode 2   Buy Fireborn: Kobo | iTunes | Nook Former Grim Reaper Leliel and her new husband Rick have settled into a routine of normalcy after their life-changing trip to the Underworld. They can finally relax and be married and deal with mundane problems, like money and learning to use all the modern-day technologies that are new to Leliel. But they’re up for the challenge. Until Leliel starts having frightening visions of people on fire. The fires appear to be suicides—young adults—but something isn’t right. She senses that they were forced to act against their will. This isn’t their time to die. Even though she’s no longer a Reaper, she needs to fix it. Somehow. When she and Rick investigate, they encounter resistance from not only the police but also the families and friends of the dead. Complicating factors are the Tarot cards left at the scenes, the mysterious happenings at the college that all of the dead turn out to have attended, and the disturbing new abilities that Rick is developing. And then Leliel’s own Tarot deck turns up the Death card–twice–and she realizes that she’s gotten the attention of something evil…something she must face without Rick by her side. Meanwhile, the deaths are mounting…

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The Hailey Chronicles

I first met Hailey when my husband, who was at the time my boyfriend, brought me home to his apartment. Sitting there was a black cat with green-yellow eyes. She was just two years old. And i fell in love with her on the spot (I also fell in love with her daddy, but that took slightly longer). She used to love play-biting me. And screwing with my husband’s Christmas tree. This little thing made a move to our apartment ten years ago and followed me out of it when I was signing for a UPS shipment. I’d walked in, shut and locked the door, and ate dinner. About a half hour later, I hear her crying and realize, oh crap! She’s outside. I spent at least fifteen minutes apologizing for leaving her out there, alone and scared. Once she darted out of the apartment and up the stairs. I thank God for the outer door being closed. She might have left us, never to return again. She made the move to where we live now, an actual house to roam in. She has her favorite places: on top of the recliner (she has amazing balance), on the bed, on the couch in the evenings, my office sometimes. On the couch in the basement in the mornings with hubby. Hailey’s not a cuddler or lap cat, and holding her usually results in panicked yowls and wiggling until she’s set free. However, when I was recovering from ankle surgery, she actually…

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Fireborn Teaser

Hey, this is Erin, and what follows is a teaser from Chapter 1 of Fireborn, our August release. Enjoy!   “I can’t stop thinking about those deaths.” Rick and I were in the car on our way to the veterinarian—an animal doctor—which was what normal cat owners did. Rick figured that Love looked pretty normal, with the exception of her razor-sharp claws and glowing eyes. She managed to dim them for now, and I hoped they’d stay dimmed. Or else we’d have lots of questions to answer. I had been wondering how her general health was. Whether living outside the Underworld had caused any permanent effects. It didn’t seem that way, but what did I know? I was still impressed with indoor plumbing and telephones. Rick glanced at me. “Are you are still being called?” He made a turn to the right. I shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just…I want to fix it.” “You can’t fix death, as extraordinary as you are.” He flashed me a grin. “I don’t mean it that way,” I said, watching the scenery pass by. “I meant…change it…no, that’s not it.” I sighed. “This is tough to explain. I want to stop the suicides from happening.” Rick stopped at a red light. “So you do want to help?” “I feel like I should, you know? But this life means that I get to be normal again, and I don’t want to be involved with death anymore. I can’t decide.” My chest constricted. What I didn’t…

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Gilmore Girls: My New Obsession

Back in May, I tweeted this: Why, you ask? What’s the big deal? Well, that’s the thing. It is a big deal. I totally missed it. It was never on my radar. I’d heard of it, and was curious, but never curious enough to you know, sit down and watch it. Of course, in my defense, those were the days when I was doing a lot of photography and writing. I didn’t really watch TV much. Except CSI. Because forensics. But I digress. If you’re not familiar with the awesomeness that is Gilmore Girls, let me give you a short primer: There’s this woman, Lorelai Gilmore and her daughter Rory (short for Lorelai). Lorelai got pregnant with Rory when she was sixteen. She was a single mother. Her parents are rich and into rich-people things, and basically feel she ruined her life by getting pregnant. And have no problem telling her that to her face. Lorelai and Rory live in Stars Hollow, a literal small town where you can walk everywhere and everyone knows everyone else. There are some cool and quirky characters: Luke, the perpetually grumpy owner of the diner where Lorelai and Rory go for breakfast (and coffee!) every day; there’s Taylor, who owns a supermarket and is mostly an ass; there’s Babette who lives in a house made for shorter people (who isn’t shorter herself) and is with a really tall man and has funerals for her dead pets; there’s Rory’s best friend Lane who is awesome…

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