Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

baby boomer women

USPS Smart Locker vs Baby Boomer Author

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I know what you’re thinking. Why do I still have all these? Because I need to get them shredded. I’ve done that for my desktop hard drives and electronic recycled the towers, no problem, but these guys? eClutter. I have to keep Bugs Bunny, right?

Pretty sure my ovaries got scanned at the Post Office last week. (This is not a conspiracy theory.) I was there to pick up mail at my Post Office Box and a package. Didn’t get my usual locker key or yellow note to come to the counter. Instead, a slip of paper with a QR code on it. (We will not discuss my cranky relationship with QR codes right now. I digress.)

Turns out a shiny USPS Smart Locker had been placed in the bay around the corner. I approached the tall pretty blue behemoth against the wall and was trying to figure out how to use the device. Without my reading glasses on, I guessed I needed to punch in maybe six numbers or letters I couldn’t read. Or scan the QR code.

I had the slip hanging in front of my hip bone while I decided if the two little red lights staring at me might be the right place to scan the paper. About three feet away. Next thing I know, the red lights brightened, the box made a noise, and a small upper left door sprang open.

I had not moved.

It appears the machine took action while I dithered.

USPS Smart Lockers

This seems to explain the general state of tech affairs these days. I had some questions about what just happened, but I grabbed my box of Avon goodies and returned to Subie. Sometimes, you just don’t want to know.

As a Baby Boomer, I had to punch tiny holes in lots of stupid paper cards to make one computer program work to earn my business degree in the early 1980s. Then I was required to learn actual code to launch my first author web site in 1997. Let me explain. I am not a techie. Never aspired to that job. Now I use more than twenty-two software programs to publish my books. And counting.

I believe I should get bonus cookie rewards or frequent flier miles for all of these tech shenanigans I’ve had to navigate. That’s not even mentioning five-and-a-half inch really floppy disks, three-inch not floppy disks, my Palm Pilot, two Blackberry phones, and the first Nook.

Don’t get me started on the ramifications of social media if you don’t know what a dial-up modem sounded like with actual AOL mail.

Which is why my heart was so happy recently watching Craft Day on the Home Shopping Network. The host talked about the great uses of an actual camera and the limitations of cell phone cameras. Yes! Preaching to the choir here.

As a former journalist/photojournalist who had to learn to develop film and print photos for the newspaper, before digital, it was a joy to witness fellow camera geeks in 2024. Even if I am still traumatized from losing an entire roll of breaking news photos to contaminated chemicals for a magazine layout, back in the day. Shudder.

I switched to digital cameras in 2006 and haven’t gone back. But I’ve always had a point and shoot or my 35mm digital camera, and my mini-camcorder, as companions. Use the right tool for the job. But I do have two-thousand some photos to get off my phone. Managed to get about five-hundred moved, so, my Android can think again.

Everything requires maintenance. And more memory. Including me.

Now vinyl records are the cool new thing and folks are fascinated with typewriters. And 1970s fashions are all the rage.

I may accidently be in style again.

But since my ovaries haven’t been active for years, due to blessed menopause, I’d like to thank the USPS for giving them a scan.

I believe they appreciated the attention.

Sometimes, technology is useful.

P.S. I know someone will ask about AI, aka Artificial Intelligence. That is a topic for another time… I have thoughts… But first, chocolate.

*****

Still figuring out how to use my rebooted blog. Perhaps life with KAC will be my theme. That opens up SO MUCH possible material. Thanks for reading!

If you liked this blog post, you can choose a free prequel from two of my military romance series, plus get my almost bi-monthly newsletter as a bonus, by going here and providing your email. I know your time and email inbox are precious treasures, so you can unsubscribe at any time. It’s true, my quirky sense of humor is not for everybody. I’m good with that. You decide.

“USPS Smart Locker vs Baby Boomer Author” copyright © 2024 by Kimberly A. Cook. Image at the top of the blog copyright © 2024 Kimberly A. Cook

 

 

It’s Holiday Hustle Time! Or Not

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Holiday hustle
Walked into the big box store on October 17 and was greeted by this. Gah! But isn’t the penguin cute?

Everybody still full of turkey? Not me. Due to my sister’s dental surgery, we opted for spaghetti take-out this year. With garlic cheesy bread. I’d give up the keys to the kingdom for that amazing delicacy. Since I figured spumoni ice cream did not go with pumpkin pie, I adapted and made brownies instead. Worked like a charm. No complaints.

I’ve made my holiday gift list and pulled down the box of Christmas cards to mail. No idea when that will happen. The shoemaker elves appear to have gone to the North Pole for better wages, because they’re not in my house.

My current work in process has moved out of town with my editor, who sold her house and had to move in two weeks flat. It’s a miracle the manuscript isn’t in their storage PODS waiting for delivery. Yes, we are old school. She edits on actual paper. So do I. Computer screens are tricky and can disguise and change words without your knowledge. That’s my excuse and I’m using it.

Then this past week, I decided to rip my home office apart and purge and reorganize books. Do not attempt this without massive amounts of chocolate on hand. Everything was going great until I realized the cable connection would be behind the tall bookcase. Sigh.

A five-day craft project ensued to move the cable box using a sheetrock saw, drill, tape, mud, sanding, and texturing from my construction Ninja friend. My desk and office were draped in pink sheets. Dusting and vacuuming happened. Then I applied two coats of paint after hunting down the original color chip and getting it matched. 

Today the books go in the bookcase!

I think that epitomizes the past couple years. No matter what you start out to do, something is going to make it a challenge. For those of us not quite ready to go prime time with naked faces, heading outside to be with people seems like a complete Indiana Jones type adventure. More snakes and rolling rocks than fun treasure. And that’s okay.

I’ve always walked to a different drummer, expect during Army basic training, but every person on this planet has a story about this pandemic. We’re all doing the best we can, except for the usual outliers who prefer crazy all the time. I’m going for boring.

We’ve had enough drama. With all that is going on in the world, you have my permission to hide under your bed until 2023. I plan on doing that myself.

But I bet I will find dust bunnies I need to clean.

First world problems.

Know there are others out here with anxiety issues, holiday stress, lockdown syndrome, and obsessive-compulsive office rearranging impulses. I’ve got all of those on any given day. Reach out for help when you need it. That makes you a mental health warrior and a badass. Trust me.

We don’t know how to do all the things all the time.

That’s why coaches get big bucks to teach the rest of us how to do things from football to writing.

Same goes for mental health; get a coach if you need one. That might be a friend, a pet, or a professional counselor.

Last time I checked the majority of us were not around during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, so this pandemic rolling dumpster fire is new for all of us. And apparently relentless. Nobody make a song about Covid, flu and RSV unless the Minions sing it.

For those of us in the sexy senior category, it does feel a bit like we have targets on our butts. But don’t count us Baby Boomers or our older scouts out. We grew up without seat belts, bike helmets, the Internet, and cell phones. We have vintage skills, survival know how, and power tools.

And we are happy to welcome the Zoomers, aka Gen Z born 1997 – 2012, to the table who have gotten a baptism by fire and appear up to the challenge. Whatever the cool word is now, you folks are that. I salute you.

As we move into holiday central, be kind to yourself and others.

And feel free to make brownies. It helps.

Thank you to all our veterans, active duty, reserve and guard military members, hospital and medical staff, law enforcement, and fire fighter personnel for keeping us safe 24/7 around the globe.

Santa has you on the very nice list.

Digital hugs to all and to all a good night!

P.S. There are never enough cat videos and this month our local feline celebrity is my favorite! I give you OwlKitty!

 

“It’s Holiday Hustle Time! Or Not,” copyright © 2022 by Kimberly A. Cook. Image at top of the blog copyright © 2022 by Kimberly A. Cook

 

Confessions Of An Author Tortoise

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Mission: Purple HeartsDreams do come true. I wrote my first romance book at age ten. This week I published my first romance novel, fifty-two years later. A dream deferred, but not denied.

Wanted to give you a quick synopsis of the years in between. In Junior and Senior High School, I worked on the school newspapers and took tons of writing and literature classes. Entered the Army with the idea of writing a book, so I kept notes, letters and continued my love of photography.  Getting out of the Army I used my G.I. Bill to attend community college. Seems the consensus of my two career choices of writer or marine biologist were not the largest job pools, so I chose a business degree.

Graduated in the middle of a recession, couldn’t get hired, worked temporary jobs. After six months decided, screw this, I’m going back to college. Since I had overloaded on coursework for my business degree, I still had four terms of benefits. Enrolled in the Journalism Arts Technology program at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon, and earned my Associate Degree.

During my last term, my internship at The Gresham Outlook newspaper led me to apply for a job with the Newport News-Times on the Oregon Coast. I became the feature section editor and proceeded to write and photograph for eighteen months in what turned out to be an invaluable school of its own.

Next I moved on to Public Affairs Officer at the Portland VA Medical Center. While I built the first public relations program at the hospital, I enrolled in Dee Lopez’s beginning and advanced novel writing classes.  There I adapted my journalism skills into the fiction world, not an easy transition from “just the facts” of journalism to the “how does it make you feel” galaxy of fiction.

I met Cindy Hiday, my fellow aspiring student, and we became good friends. I joined Romance Writers of America and Willamette Writers, went to many local and national writing conferences. My first romance novel was titled Wings of Ice, about the world of Air Force Reserve Aerovac, which I’d joined in 1989. Because I wasn’t busy enough, obviously. But, still I wrote.

When my first novel was sent to Dee’s agent in New York, and I ended up being mobilized for Desert Storm, life got tricky. Romance publisher Silhouette requested my first and then second novels, but both were rejected with very nice letters. After a year of Desert Storm impacting my life state-side, I went to work for the feds again. Then I enrolled in Cindy’s novel classes, now an author herself, taking over from the retired Dee Lopez.

In Cindy’s course I saw the need for a writing class for my fellow veterans. Using Dee’s course as a guideline, I developed and taught Writing War Stories for three years at Mt. Hood Community College. Life is a loop. When I quit teaching, I wrote Do Bar Fights Count?, the non-fiction book on how I taught the class and self-published it in 2006. Before Kindle. It’s still on my Amazon author page in paperback. (June 2024 only used print books available, second edition in progress)

Right after that life got nuts on all levels. We had family challenges, I changed day jobs, and tried to save an aircraft carrier, the USS Ranger, to become a museum. All while working full-time, but now for a local government agency. In the meantime, I started a writer support group, because I really needed one. We still meet. And, I wrote when I could.

Fast-forward to December 2016, I retired two years earlier than I expected from the day job. I hear that happens to forty-one percent of us. It’s been a roller-coaster ride of helping move my Mom, clean and sell the family home of fifty-seven years, dig out my own house and try to figure out a new schedule. The fiction critique group Cindy and I started in November 2016 still meets and helped keep me honest on my writing and grounded. Plus there are fabulous snacks.

Along the way I’ve written one screenplay, (while taking several terms of Bill Johnson’s screenwriting class at MHCC) attended tons of writing conferences and classes, read volumes, kept working on my craft, and learned about the ins and outs of today’s indie publishing requirements. To make this book happen I’ve used at least nine different computer software programs, moved my legacy web site to this one, and almost threw my computer out my home office window. Many times. I refrained. Barely.

But this week I finally uploaded my first romance novel, my fifth one written, and pushed publish. I can’t even explain how good that feels to send my little book on its way. And you know the best part? After all the editing, proofing, beta readers, formatting, and business side of things is mostly set up, I can get back to the real fun.

Because to keep me kinda sane, I wrote two more books and they now need to be edited. Plus, it’s time to start the next book in the two series. I still consider myself a rookie fiction writer, but it is truly my joy, not a job. 

Don’t give up. Don’t deny your dreams, no matter how long they take. Grab life and hug it!

For the curious, Mission: Purple Hearts, a military romance, is available in ebook at  https://amzn.to/2YztBT7  You can get the free Vintage Veterans series prequel, Desert Devils, at https://www.kimberlyacook.com/signup 

How about those covers? I picked the artwork and my cover designer rocked it!

I may sleep with them. Seriously.

Desert Devils

March 2021 Update: And the quest continues. Since posting this about my first book, I have published three more fiction books with two more on deck, plus nonfiction on the way. My Amazon author page http://amazon.com/author/kimberlyacook

Since an indie author’s life resembles trying to tap dance while scrubbing the decks of a floundering ship in high seas, here are some things which have tried to impact my writer determination.

October 2019. Published Spec Ops Pig – The day I published this book my mom was delivered to my front porch after a neighbor saw her fall while on her daily walk. The concrete won. Mom was okay, after we cleaned her up. Hard to take down a former Marine, no matter the age. But keep your eyes open for ambush curbs.

March 2020. Pandemic lockdown. Right after we moved mom into assisted living. Trying to provide tech tv remote support from outside the building is not one of my best skills. But I’m good at delivering bags of stuff. Life is logistics!  

July 2020. Published Mission: Canine Hearts – I only check the news, social media, and turn on my cell phone after lunch. I carve nine to noon for writing time five days a week. Getting ready to upload this book, the news said the city the book is set in had blown up. That day. Again. Could not believe it. What are the odds? Hard to fathom more loss of life in that town. Said a prayer, then pushed publish, and moved forward.

September 2020. Wildfires hit and my entire family was on evacuation notice. Packing the car and preparing to flee screws up your writing schedule. We didn’t have to bug out, but the killer smoke inversion tried to make breathing optional. Humans need oxygen. Semper Parrot was delayed and Merry MisMouse, holiday book, bumped forward for the second year. It’s half finished! But the holidays keep getting jammed up.

December 2020. Published Semper Parrot – As far as I know, no parrots were impacted by this book’s launch. I’m getting a bit nervous about pushing publish these days. Who knows what havoc my books might unleash?     

February 2021. Massive winter storm power outage. Four plus days without heat, but plenty of outside ice. Balmy twenty-six degrees out. Launched an extraction mission to get my mom to my sister’s house, since they had gas heat. I will only own a Subaru. And my dad’s hard hat prevented me from a concussion when I got clocked with falling ice. Proper gear people!  

At some point, you just go with it. Flying vampire zombies must be next. One looks skyward and yells, “Bring it!” The Army and Air Force Reserve taught me valuable lessons. People first. Eyes on the mission. Zig. Zag. Gas. Go around. Evasive maneuvers.

But since I’ve broken every book marketing rule known to women, I march on. Perseverance. And a ton of Dove dark chocolate. Peanut M&Ms for backup. And cookies. Always cookies.

The only constants are change and chaos. To quote Marine slang; Semper Gumby – Always Flexible. Or something like that.

Now my marketing plan is to study the Ads for Authors course I bought last year to learn about Amazon ads. If the entire Amazon web site goes down, it’s not my fault. Caveat emptor. If they let me pay to use their system, I’m not responsible for what happens.

In the meantime? I keep writing. Because when the world gets too crazy, I can hide in fictional Hat River, Oregon. I find out what my characters are doing and how their lives are going. Writers escape inside their heads. So do readers. Stay tuned for more crazy.

Books ahoy!

February 2022. Published Mission: Disabled Hearts.  

October 2022. Where was I? Lost a lot of the last year when my mom went on hospice, then died in September 2021. (She hated the term “passed away,” so not using that!) A journey of grief and transitions is tricky, but one day at a time usually works. Writing was my anchor and therapy these past years, however editing was beyond me until earlier this year when I published Mission: Disabled Hearts. 

And because I never do what I’m supposed to, I wrote a book in a new connected series this year, which is with my editor. Because that was the book I needed to write. I should take Vegas betting odds to see if I finally get Merry MisMouse, the holiday book, finished this year. Who knows? Stay tuned! 

November 2023: Published Forbidden Biker, which I’ve come to call mom’s book. It started a new series, Moonstruck Makeovers, and I kept writing. I wrote it to avoid working on Merry MisMouse, truth be told.

December 2023: Finally published Merry MisMouse! Miracles do happen. Started writing this book in August 2019, and life kept shoving it past the next Christmas. For years! But finally, I prevailed. Note to self, write all future holiday books in July. 

December 2023: Published my first novella, Gingerbread Gorgeous, in the Single Santa’s Club series. Because I wrote this novella to also avoid working on Merry MisMouse. Which means I ignored all of my notes to myself and somehow published three holiday books in a row. I’m still digging out my office mess from that escapade.

July 2024: Getting ready to publish Mission: Runaway Hearts, due back from my editor any minute. Plus, I’m editing the Writing War Stories nonfiction writing book for veterans, published in 2006 titled Do Bar Fights Count? Give me chocolate! Shouldn’t I be writing a holiday book too? It’s July! And I am up to my eyeballs creating a streamlined series bible to keep track of all my characters in Hat River, Oregon, where ALL of my connected series are set. I’ve built an entire town, people, it’s a lot. In a fictional small town, not so far away…

November 2024: Published Mission: Runaway Hearts. Don’t ask me what happened to the fall. It was a blur. Pretty sure there were some tech issues which I have banished from my brain. 

December 2024: Published Chef Gorgeous. A holiday novella out before the holiday. Imagine. Miracles do happen! I must write the next one in July. Seriously. And since I can’t write a series in a straight line to save my life, next up is book two in the Moonstruck Makeovers series. Because I am not the boss of my muse. Plus, the series bible is turning into an octopus. And I am doing a fabulous job of avoiding the final edit on the nonfiction book. Romance books are so much more fun to write….

The adventure continues…     

 

“Confessions of an Author Tortoise” Copyright © 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 by Kimberly A. Cook. Cover images Mission: Purple Hearts ID 62380801 © Sashkinw at Dreamstime.com and Desert Devils ID 140447199 © Ag042d at Dreamstime.com  Cover Designs by Robin Ludwig Design Inc.