Okay, y’all summer is my busiest time of the year, so I am a few weeks behind! I’m gonna crunch all of these together. I’m decidedly doing this for myself, and I always meet a challenge I set for myself. And clearly people aren’t reading these, because no one has cried out, “Cass! You’re behind on your blog challenge!”

So let’s see… Week 13, what have I learned from researching my new book? My project right now hasn’t really required any research. I have a project floating around in the back of my mind, and I’ve worked about 6000 words on it.  I keep seeing the male character as a wounded war vet, so I did quite a bit of research on PTSD, returning soldiers and prosthetic limbs. I’ll be honest… I can’t write that. As a military mom, I can’t let my head go there. The character keeps yelling at me, but I’m trying to ignore it until I can figure out an alteration to the story, to his story… But for weeks after the research, all my facebook ads were about accessories for prosthetic limbs! It took forever for those to go away… FYI- I solved that by shopping online for swimsuits. Now I can't get rid of those ads!

Week 14: What I learned from my worst review?
    Actually, that’s the reason I haven’t been keeping up. I haven’t had a ‘worst review’ perse by a reader on Good Reads or Amazon… but my betas recently sent back notes on my latest work in progress and all four HATED the love interest. That’s not real good for romance! And there was just too much going on…
    The good news is, by the time I separate things out, I’ll have two different stories, with some possible characters to overlap in the same ‘universe.’ So all in all, I didn’t scrap 80,000+ words…

15: How I celebrate completing my manuscript?
    Really, I don’t know that I do? I spend so much time working, and reworking the piece, but I know when it’s done, there’s just more of it to come. I’ll post on my social media, “It’s done!” I’ll tell my man, maybe go to bed early, but that’s about it. The real celebration comes on book release day, when I can send out all the fun messages and order up new goodies from Vistaprint with my cover and and book quotes on them!

​So, since this ia a catch up post, I'm not linking my pals this time. Thanks for following this nonsense!
Love, CASS

https://cassmichaels.tumblr.com/

I’m sure this is supposed to be writing related, but I haven’t won any writing awards. But one time, I did win a reward at work for completing staff fitness goals! Everyone who had participated in work challenges over a four month span got to put their name in for a drawing of cash prizes, anywhere from $50 to $1000.  You had to be present to win, and we were all really just sitting around, using it as an opportunity to socialize. The last time anyone in our division won, it was $50. No one was too excited. I put my name in the little wicker basket when it was passed around, and continued sharing the work gossip. I was more worried about being late for a meeting to follow, because I didn’t want to listen to those teammates bitch that I was slacking off work.  
The announcer reached into the basket and drew out a name, announcing the initials of the winner. What the hell? Three of us had the same initials, but my heart started pounding in my chest. Mine were called! We all stood up and looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to quit playing games… MY NAME! She called my name! Everyone started cheering, and saying if I won, I had to buy dinner. Hell no. It was three weeks before my big vacation. I was already planning how I’d spend that money.
I walked to the front of the room, and listened with shaky knees as she explained the rules. I had to draw two bags from the box and open them. Inside the bags were two puzzle pieces, and if they matched, I’d win the full prize indicated.  If they didn’t match, I’d win half... Dramatically, as my friends cheered me on, I pulled out the first bag and opened it. $1000! So no matter what, I was gonna walk out of there with $500! It didn’t really matter if the other piece matched, Five hundred was exactly what I needed to make my dreams come true.  Hesitantly, I reached in and pulled out another grab bag. Tearing it open, feeling it with my fingers, I could already picture it in my head. The pieces were going to match! SURE ENOUGH when I pulled it out, they matched! $1000!!! I won, simply for completing the health challenges my employer set out for us! Holy hell! I couldn’t believe it! Everyone was jumping up and down, congratulating me, teasing me that it was my turn to buy dinner! We all had a good laugh, but no one knew how relieved I really was… I had these amazing vacation plans, but I couldn’t really afford it. This money was going to be enough to let me go and enjoy myself without having to worry about scrimping and saving, or how I’d eat the rest of the month after I returned home.
The actual check arrived two days before my trip. It was amazing to deposit that kind of money into my checking account, and it felt great on the trip to be a little frivolous and not worry about a thing. (not to mention I met my best friend for life and writer bestie, Lisa, on that trip!)
All because I ate healthy, did some sit ups and walked a few miles...

Want to know about other author’s thoughts? Lucky for you, my fabulous friends are part of this challenge too. Hop over to their blogs and/or Twitter to find out more!

Gisela Grey
Lisa Andrew
Autumn McKayne
Charlie Knight
Felicity Davenport

Thanks!
Love, 
​Cass