A Little Holiday Music

My favorite song to end the holiday season.

A Little Bit of Christmas Magic

To our shock, the San Antonio police called GK this morning. They retrieved his Challenger. Apparently, the dumbass thief had left the expired temp tag on the car, and that's how he got pulled over.

We all thought we'd never see the vehicle again. That it had already been chopped or was in Mexico by Christmas night.

The Neteru answered my prayer, even though a car is not the end all/be all of the universe. But damn, my family needed something to go right this year, and it broke my heart seeing my baby so upset.

Christmas miracles really do exist.

Last Week of the Year

This is normally when I take stock of the year and plan out projects for the next.

2022 was NOT a good year. (Read it in Judy Geller's voice, aka the fabulous Cristina Pickles from Friends.)

I'm nearly 250K behind in my annual word count. Delayed one novel and dropped the ball on two others that I'm trying to finish. Whatever free time I scheduled was utterly taken over by personal stuff.

Four deaths in the family. In fact, I have paperwork from the attorney for my mom's estate I need to fill out and return. DH and his sisters have been doing their best to clean out their parents' house. Some of this was stalled by one sister breaking her wrist and another one contracting COVID-19.

The kicker was the text we got from GK in the wee hours of Christmas morning. He left his apartment to head to work (military works 24/7/365), only to find broken glass where his car had been parked. We were on the phone with him for a total of four hours. The first hour was when he was waiting for the police to come. The other three were after he got home later that night.

I was proud of him for dealing with the police and the insurance company, or what he could get done since this was a major holiday. But he needed to vent last night. Today was the first day of his leave, and he planned to come home. And his car being stolen was the cherry on top of a series of crap in trying to get his leave lined up.

GK made an appearance at his staff sergeant's Christmas party last night, but he didn't get falling down drunk. He was determined that hell or high water, he was driving home for his leave.

So while we wait for his arrival today, I'm looking at my calendar. My first half of 2023 will be spent catching up on all the projects. By catching up, I mean writing. I probably won't publish anything new for the next six months that doesn't already have an pre-order date.

After I update and release everything I need to, then I'll see about the projects of the heart I want to write. Most of those are already listed on the work in progress list on my reader website.

It's the best I can do. I didn't realize how shredded emotionally I was until today. I'm not even hoping the last seven days of the year will be smooth. I just want to survive them without having a mental breakdown.

A Little Holiday Music

It's not Christmas without a little Mariah!

Winter Storms and Cozy Christmases

Bing Crosby didn't sing about a bomb cyclone for Christmas. But between blizzard conditions tonight and one of DH's sisters coming down with COVID, we will be spending a very quiet long Christmas weekend at home.

Heck, I'm even prepared for the possibility of not being able to pick up our Christmas order from Cinnabon in Lima. If the wind is as fierce as predicted for Saturday, ODOT (the Ohio Department of Transportation for those outside of the U.S.) will close I-75 and other north-south roads in our flat-as-a-pancake part of Ohio.

Drifting and white-out conditions are not something to laugh at here. An elderly couple froze to death in our county a few years ago after their car got stuck in a snow drift. The sad part is they were only yards from a house where they could have taken shelter, except they couldn't see the house or its lights in the blowing snow.

Anyway, I have extra flour and yeast to make my own cinnamon rolls if we can't go to Lima Saturday morning. I'm making sure all of our devices are charged. I've got paper books, candles, and lots of blankets if we lose power.

Frankly, I like the idea of just me, DH, and Princess Bella for Christmas. GK will be coming home on leave after the storm system has blown itself into the Atlantic.

Yep, this is the kind of holiday I can deal with.

Monday Movie Mania - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

This may be the last theater viewing DH and I do for a while. Just when I started to get comfortable going to the local cinema again, COVID, RSV, and flu rates started climbing in our section of Ohio. The rates are high enough most of my doctors have gone back to requiring masks in their office for both staff and patients. And even in the offices that aren't requiring masks, more and more people are voluntarily wearing them as a precaution.

But enough about that.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever provoked an intense emotional reaction from the audience, though not the same emotions as the original Black Panther. One kid stood up and cheered. The rest of the audience, men and women, young and old, black and white, were bawling their eyes out.

* * * * *

SPOILERS

* * * * *

PROS

1) The beginning and ending of the movies were amazing tributes to both T'Challa and Chadwick Boseman. The end especially was the reason we were all crying.

2) Leticia Wright claimed the mantle of Black Panther as expected and did an excellent job as the lead.

3) The revision of the Sub-Mariner's storyline was essential because it's practically the same as Aquaman's in the comics. The writers gave a little more sympathetic storyline to Namor, and Tenoch Huerta Mejia beautifully pulled off the revised Namor.

4) Riri Williams, aka Ironheart, makes her debut. I think I'm in love with Dominique Thorne. All the replacements for the original six Avengers is now complete for Marvel's Stage Four.

5) The cameo by Michael B. Jordan expands Shuri's grief and anger at failing to save her brother.

6) M'Baku and Shuri's agreement on how affairs in Wakanda will be handled showed a maturity in both characters.

7) General Okoye. 'Nuff said.

CONS

1) How they handled Queen Ramonda pissed me off because I love, love love Angela Bassett. She always provides a wonderful, nuanced performance in everything she does.

Chadwick Boseman was on his way to becoming one of the greatest American actors of all time. His talent brought a grace and humanity to a role that could have been treated as a joke. His loss over the same stupid disease that nearly killed DH just fucking kills me. But everyone involved in the making of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever lived up to Chadwick's talent and ideals. They made a movie that was a wonderful homage to both the character and the actor. And Leticia Wright earned her stripes as the new Black Panther.

Overall, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever earn 10 stars out of 10.

A Little Holiday Music

Seeing Trans Siberian Orchestra live beats any videos!

Ready for 2022 to Be Over!!

I got through my medical appointments, bought new computer glasses, and picked up the last prescriptions of the year. All I needed to do was get my COVID booster next week.

But if you're reading this on Friday morning, I'm back at the eye doctor. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have pink eye, but...

Anyway, whatever is causing the itching, burning, and tearing (not allergies or the drops I have for that would be working) makes it hard to see the computer screen. So I called yesterday afternoon, and thankfully, they had an opening this morning.

Here's to no more shit for the last two weeks of the year! And I can finish my projects without any more craziness!

Monday Movie Mania - Ticket to Paradise

I attended this movie with my friend Becky when I visited her in Missouri. We tried to get together for my birthday weekend, but the plans fell through at the last minute because of her work schedule.

Ticket to Paradise is a cute, little romcom reuniting George Clooney and Julia Roberts as their characters deal with their daughter's upcoming nuptials to a man and a lifestyle they think is wrong.

 

*****

SPOILERS

*****

 

PROS

1) George and Julia still have the chemistry they had in the Ocean's series. In fact, David and Georgia come across as Danny and Tess twenty years after their second divorce.

2) Billie Lourd steals the movie as Lily's best friend Wren.

3)  A hat tip to Lucas Bravo's performance as Georgia's boyfriend Paul. I actually felt sorry for the character when Georgia dumps him to rekindle things with her ex.

CONS

1) It's a fun Saturday night popcorn movie you won't remember two days later.

 

Overall, I give Ticket to Paradise 5 out of 10 stars. It's not bad, but it's not memorable either. Wait until it hits a streaming service to watch it.

A Little Holiday Music

I forgot to set up music videos for the rest of the month, so here's a late treat from the magnificent Lindsey Stirling!

Writing thru the Holidays

There's so much pressure on people these days to have a perfect holiday that most folks forget to do a little self-care.

If you're not writing during the holidays, maybe you need to look at it as something other than an item to cross off on your to-do list. Look at it as a fun, private thing you do to keep your sanity.

Seriously, folks. This is part of how I keep my own blood pressure under control. In fact, my doc lowered my dosage twice since I started writing full time.

It doesn't mean you MUST write on your current wip.

Write a holiday story. Write a funny story for your kids. Write a poem for your significant other. Write new song lyrics for your favorite tune.

Or vent in your journal about how crazy your family makes you. (Been there. Done that.)

The point is writing should not be part of the load our society places on your shoulders. Writing should let you find a release from all that pressure.

If you think I'm blowing smoke up your ass, here's my holiday issues:

DH's dad and my mom passed away this year. We're hosting DH's sisters et al. for an early celebration tomorrow night. GK can't come home for Christmas this year, and he called last night to warn us that his leave for New Year's hasn't been approved. If it isn't signed off on by his commanding officer by today, GK won't be able to come home until last January/early February.

Now, I can bitch and moan. Or I can make things earlier on me. Like catering from Olive Garden for tomorrow night's dinner. Buying gifts cards or shop online for presents. Not too much I can do about GK's commanding officer, but I focus on seeing my kid and watching The Witcher with him when he does arrive here. Remind myself that things don't have to be perfect, something both my mom and my mother-in-law did every year, making themselves and everyone else miserable in the process.

And I can write for an hour or two after DH goes to bed. It's quiet, the tree is lit, and there's coffee with peppermint mocha creamer. It's an awesome way to end the day during this insane time of the year.

Books and Pies and Presents! Oh, My!

 

Things have been a little crazy around Chez Harden. DH and his sisters have been attempting to clean out their parents' house for the last several months. That task slowed way down when Sister #2 broke her wrist at the end of August.

So they busted their butts last weekend and plan to do so again this coming weekend. And I'll be hosting our Christmas dinner Saturday night. I'm catering the dinner, and maybe I'll make a pie or two if I have the time on Friday. Which honestly is looking doubtful at the moment.

In the meantime, DH wanted to replace the Christmas tree that drowned in last year's unintentional indoor swimming pool. The new one looks vaguely purple-ish in the photo, but it's a white tree with lights that can be blue (current mode) or white, blinking or not. It looks quite nice without any ornaments. I was surprised he picked something so non-traditional, but then, I want to get a black tree for the library once it's set up. A black tree with white lights to display my collection of of Star Trek ship ornaments.

Unfortunately, with everything else going on, I'm racing around trying to finish my holiday shopping since I have three days left. There was a time I'd have everything done by Thanksgiving, including shipping the out-of-state presents.

Since Invasion!'s release got screwed up, I'm taking the opportunity to review it for typos one last time. Death in Double Mocha is making progress finally. And then this morning, I received a private invitation to submit a short story for a holiday anthology for next year, which the publisher needs by the end of this week.

I have to admit things are never dull in my life.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

It's no secret I'm a huge Wizrd of Oz fan. When This popped up on my YouTube feed, I was beyond ecstatic!

AUGH! Not Again!

2022 has been a major pain in my backside. The topper is when I uploaded Invasion! for distribution on Amazon. And the f***ing website froze.

This happened to me with A Twist of Love a few years ago. According to Amazon, I didn't upload the book file in time, and the preorder is cancelled. The poor customer service peeps cannot reinstate the preorder.

I'm frustrated and pissed and a bunch of other things. So I'm taking a step back. Taking a deep breath. And since this is the holiday season, I'm going to embrace that spirit.

I already promised a free copy to my mailing list. If you preordered Invasion!, contact me. I'll send you a link for a free copy for any e-reader, tablet, etc.

Or you can sign up for my newsletter before Saturday, December 3.

Will Invasion! be released on Amazon? Yes, it will, and all the other retailers, but I need a week to work off the accumulative stress of this year. And it's going to start with a hot cup of coffee and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer this evening.

I'm sorry for this, but I'll make the best of things and get the last two books for 2022 out to you come hell or high water!

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

I've always wondered what happened to Brad and Janet after their wild, crazy night.

The Day After

As enjoyable and low-key as yesterday's Thanksgiving celebration was, my body ached, and exhaustion claimed me. I slept nearly twelve hours last night.

It was a little reminder I need to be careful with my spoons. I'll need all of them for the rest of weekend to finish Invasion!

I hope everyone has an enjoyable holiday weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm cleaning, cooking, and writing in spurts today since we're hosting family for the holiday. If you have cinnamon and alfredo sauce on your e-book of Invasion! next week, that's why.

The Harden Menu
Conn's Potato Chips and Dean's French Onion Dip
Triscuits and spray cheese
Water crackers and Italian cheese ball
Sausage Alfredo Lasagna
Apple pie with cinnamon ice cream

Salads will be eaten the rest of the holiday weekend.

Have a wonderful holiday, everyove!

Sisters and Monsters

I submitted a short story to an editor last night. I don't know why I submitted it.

I had lunch with one of my sorority littles on Saturday. She found me through Facebook shortly before the pandemic started. We hadn't seen each other in thirty-five years and spent a good two hours talking. I made sure to tip our server well for taking up a table for so long.

So what does that have to do with writing and submitting a short story last night?

Little #2 and I didn't like a particular sister. She was a Karen before Karens became a thing. The Particular Sister was constantly trying to get me in trouble with both our sorority advisor and an advisor in another club. She tried to bully the girls in Little #2's pledge class. She was manipulative and passive-aggressive and an all around negative person.

And while I was reminiscing about college yesterday, the perfect revenge story clicked in my head. Or maybe I've watched too many episodes of Supernatural.

Anyway, the story spilled out of me during football yesterday. You know an idea has me in its grip when I pay no attention to a Steelers game.

I finished the story and sent it into the world. If it doesn't sell, I'll post on my author website. Maybe I needed a small break from all my other projects. Maybe I'll write more monster stories and publish a collection.

Either way, the experience helped me deal with some lingering anger at some people who shouldn't matter in my life now. And it felt good.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Oh, no! Not Meat Loaf again!

Latest Happenings

I know I haven't talked a whole lot about the publishing business this year. On one hand, I've been a bit distracted. On the other, everyone seems to be holding their breath, waiting for the next big thing to hit.

There's a ton of indies bitching about slow sales. However, this year's midterms garnered the kind of attention reserved for the presidential elections. The drop in my own sales in October was expected.

Other than a few grumblings about government overreach, no one is saying much about Randy Penguins being blocked from buying Simon & Schuster. Paramount Global have been looking to unload S&S back when the company was ViacomCBS. I find it interesting that none of the big American corporations really wants to run a publishing company anymore.

Internet ads aren't bringing in the big bucks to anyone but the advertising agencies themselves these days. Hey, I block a lot of shit on my browser, so I'm with the consumers on this one.

AI is probably the most talked about new issue this year. From fake voices reading audiobooks to computer-generated cover art, questions are arising about copyright. But not fast enough in my opinion. Ever worse is when AI can generate art in the same style as a living artist. I mean, I'd love Meryl Streep to do the voice work for one of my novels, but I can't afford her (even if she'd agree to do it). It's not right to teach an AI to sound like Meryl though.

So these are the weird things floating through my head as snowflakes gently fall outside. Anyone want to add an issue in 2022 that I overlooked?

One Last Sale

Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice is currently free on Amazon. Yep, that's zero moola WITHOUT joining the Kindle Unlimited club.

So if you need something fun and crazy to read while your uncles argue whether sasquatches and yetis are the same thing over the remnants of the turkey carcass, pick up your copy now!

The sale ends on Friday, November 18th!

Link to Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice on Amazon

Monday Movie Mania - Black Adam

Black Adam was the second film DH and I attended during his week off. Honestly, I wasn't planning on seeing it until I found out Viola Davis, Aldis Hodge, and Pierce Brosnan were in it. Sorry, but Dwayne Johnson is not the end-all, be-all for me. Beyond GK's childhood favorites that Johnson appeared in, it's usually his co-stars who attract me to the movie.

Then there's the fact that DCEU is trying to remake Black Adam into an anti-hero. It's a little hard to wrap my head around. I had the same problem with Joaquin Phoenix's Joker (a movie I still haven't seen despite my love of the DC Universe).


*** SPOILERS ***


PROS
1) The introduction of the Justice Society of America!

2) Aldis Hodge was pitch-perfect as the Golden Age Carter Hall/Hawkman.

3) Same for Pierce Brosnan's Golden Age Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate.

4) Henry Winkler's cameo as the Golden Age Atom was hysterical!

5) The kids playing Cyclone and Atom Smasher were adorable. And the movie stuck with their Golden Age orgins, even though they made Atom Smasher the grandson of the Atom instead of his godson.

6) You can never go wrong with an appearance of Amanda Waller!

7) Don't miss a certain mid-credit cameo!

CONS
1) The convuluted backstory of how this version of Black Adam got his powers. Can we do an origin story where a man's wife and kid aren't fridged as motivation?

2) I wished there was more backstory of the JSA within the movie. Instead of being treated as an early vversion of the JLA, they were tools of Amanda Waller.

3) Dwayne Johnson smoldering is not acting.


Overall, I give Black Adam a solid 7 stars out of 10.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

How can you not dance to this song?

Judge Pan's Decision on Randy Penguins

I still haven't read Judge Florence Pan's decision, but Publishers Weekly copiously quoted the judge in their article this week about the matter. It will be interesting to see what happens with PRH's planned appeal.

The whole case is unusual in that the DOJ took the side of the product producers (i.e. the writers) instead of that of the consumers. However, Judge Pan was quick to point out that Apple was slapped with $450 million fine after its trial back in 2013 because the Big Five idiotically admitted to the price-fixing during the course of their settlements with the DOJ. She essentially stated the Big Five were using the same type of collusion between themselves with their product producers.

It will be interesting to see how far Randy Penguins get with their appeals, considering Apple failed with their appeals in the 2012 price-fixing lawsuit.

Thirty Percent Through NaNoWriMo

I'm getting the words in, but not on the project I'd planned to at the beginning of 2022.

Death in Double Mocha is way behind thanks to the multiple deaths in the family this year, not mention the two additional stories that will be audiobooks. Invasion! is supposed to come out December 1st, and I can't afford to lose my pre-order privileges on Amazon. And I'd wanted to do A Hint of Thief for NaNo. I have written a few chapters on it in order to wrap up the events at the end of A Measure of Knowledge and Invasion!

As a friend mentioned, it's like I'm writing three NaNo projects at once.

Looking at timing, I need to take a step back and finish Invasion! first since Elaina is scheduled to do the paperback cover next week.

Then, I need to finish up everything for the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse Kickstarter before the end of the year.

Finally, I can jump back into A Hint of Thief because of the excitement factor of Anthea and Luc being caught in plots, spies, and triple-crosses while trying to keep Quan alive long enough to be crowned.

Yep, my brain is high on stories!

Monday Movie Mania - Amsterdam

I'm finally feeling comfortable enough to go to movie theaters again. Yay!

Amsterdam is a quirky little historical comedy-thriller you're either going to love or hate. DH and I wanted to see it because of the all-star cast, many of whom we're huge fans of. (Seriously, I will watch Margot Robbie in anything!)

Unfortunately, it's so quirky people either love it or hate it. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground. The main plot is very loosely based on a real event in U.S. history, the Business Plot.

*********

SPOILERS!!

**********

PROS

1)  The cast was excellent. The starring trio of Christian Bales, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington shine as old friends who are trying to solve the murder of a general they served with during Word War I.

2)  Chris Rock was understated as the trio's cynical sidekick who tries to inject reality in his repeated requests to drop the case.

3)  Rami Malek was delightfully scary as one of the villains.

4) I fear this movie was given such poor reviews because the events in the movie from a century ago are far too similar to the real life events over the last few years. We're seeing the same rise in fascism and violence for political ends. I don't think American citizens like facing the same damn flaws in the mirror.

 

CONS

 1) As much as I respect Christian Bales as an actor, his Dr. Bert Berendsen came across as Peter Falk playing Columbo, which Bert was acting as a detective, but it was distracting for me at times.

Overall, I really liked Amsterdam. I give it 9 stars out of 10.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Anybody else need a sweet transvestite?

PRH Takeover of Simon & Schuster Blocked

I haven't read the actual order from the judge yet, but the DOJ issued a press release Monday, stating they received their request for a permanent injunction on the Randy Penguin's takeover of Simon & Schuster.

So what does this mean?

As of right now, not much. Randy Penquin has requested an expedited appeal of the decision, which might go all the way up to the Supreme Court.

If Judge Florence Pan stuck with her same concerns she displayed during last summer's trial, her decision will focus on what authors are being paid to license their manuscripts and not what consumers are paying for the actual books.

So here's the conundrum for the Appellate and Supreme Courts--which rich people are they going to side with? The rich authors like Stephen King or the rich owners of Randy Penguin and the execs at Simon & Schuster who want their golden parachutes?

It ain't over yet by any means!

Happy Halloween!

Here's a blast from the past that I do play every year around this time. Happy Samhain! The Witches' New Year!

Tis My Season

I'm out for my birthday weekend. Don't have too much fun without me!

Respect Your Readers

Writers will read the title of this post, and a zillion translations will zip through a zillion minds.

- But I change my story with every critique!

- But I hold contests and give them lots of freebies!

- But I throw parties at all the readers events I attend!

And so on . . .

That's not what I'm talking about. I mean when a single reader approaches you and says, "Oh, my gosh! I loved Galactic Sluts!"

Your writer group has put you down for that book. Or a critic gave you zero stars and called the worst piece of trash of the century. Or your parents sniff and say you had a nervous breakdown when people ask what you're doing these days.

So, the defensiveness you've built up over the time you've been writing spills out of you, and you say something like, "Uh, that's the worst thing I ever wrote."

Seriously, folks. I've seen best selling authors do exactly that. To me. As a reader.

And guess what? We've screwed up the courage to approach you, and what you just said makes us readers feel like shit. You've told us we have piss-poor taste. You've told us we're idiots for liking your work.

Look, I know that defensiveness, that self-deprecation comes from the insecurities deep inside all of us writers. Art of any kind is not respected in our society.

But that's no reason to piss on someone else. Especially since you have no idea what's going on in someone's life. Let me give you a couple of personal examples.

In February of 1998, I was living in a new city 1200 miles from my hometown where I knew very few people. I was going to law school full-time. And DH was literally half a world away for the entire month. Needless to say, I was stressed out and sad despite our dogs' best efforts to cheer me up. This was back when Harlequin novels were sold in the check-out lanes of grocery stores.

So, yeah, I'm in Gerland's, and Harlequin has recently launched their Love & Laughter line. I picked up Irresistible? by Stephanie Bond. Thank goodness it was Friday. I was up most of the night, laughing so hard I cried. And I did something I'd never done with a writer before. I sent her a fan letter. And to my surprise, I received a lovely thank you note from her.

A few years later, I attended a book signing by Sherrilyn McQueen (nee' Kenyon). Once again, I was in a rough place. I'd learned I wouldn't be able to have anymore kids after GK. I'd lost my law practice thanks to 9/11 and the two stock crashes of 2001. Frankly, I was struggling to keep my shit together.

I honestly can't remember the exact conversation I had with her when it was my turn to get my book signed. The thing that sticks in my mind was how she made me feel at the time. She's one of those people who really listens to you. She thanked me for buying her books, and she hoped I enjoyed the signed one she handed back to me.

And that's what I say to any reader who tells me they liked my book. Any one of my books.

To all my readers, thank you for buying my books. I really do hope they give you a chuckle and some hope in this crazy world.

I'm Still Alive

I have skipped writing blog posts lately for a couple of reasons. Yes, I've been writing my butt off on novels, trying to catch up after all the interruptions of the year. But thanks to the pandemic, most of my medical check-ups have moved from April and May to October and November.

For example, I had my eye exam yesterday. As I've gotten older, I have to ask the doctor to use a lesser strength of the drug administered to dilate the pupils. Otherwise, I end up with a nasty migraine. But even when the doctor uses the lesser concentration, it doesn't wear off as fast as it use to. I need to stay in a darkened room for eight to twelve hours. It kind of blows my whole day.

So, after DH drove me home yesterday, I sat in the family room and started putting together the shipping boxes for the rewards from the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse Kickstarter campaign.

Also, DH is on vacation this week, and we finally feel comfortable enough to go to the movie theater. So, y'all will have some Monday Movie Mania to look forward to over the next week.

It finally feels like things are getting back to normal for us.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Let's end the Metallica portion of our posting with their best song!

Gaining Some Ground

After forcing myself to finish Chapter 6 and making a little headway into Chapter 7, I put aside Death in Double Mocha for this week and jumped into Invasion!

Why?

Because it still feels  peculiar mixing my feelings about my mother with Dani's feelings about hers. Normally, I can immerse myself in my POV character's emotions and beliefs. Yep, even Selene from the Bloodlines series. But right now, it's just too damn weird and disjointed.

So I worked on Invasion! this week. It wasn't a breath of fresh air. It was like hanging out with old friends.

To the point, I wrote more in the last five days than I have in the previous twenty-seven days.

I may not finish Death in Double Mocha before the end of this month, but I feel better about making headway on it over the next few weeks.

I Need Some Help Deciding on a Cover!

My cover artist came up with three versions of the cover for Queer Eye for the Super Guy. So I need a little help in picking one.

The first one, aka COVER A, is based on my original request. I told her I wanted two men and  rainbows because Jeremy, Leo, and the LGBT+ cast of the 888-555-HERO takes center stage in this story.

The second one, aka COVER B, has the title toned down a little bit, but still has lots of color.

The third cover, aka COVER C, takes the title down to an almost metallic silver color.

Tell me what you think in the comments below, or you can send me a private message through the CONTACT ME! tab above.

Thanks for your help!

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

If this song doesn't tear your heart out, you don't have a soul.

A Postcard form the Edge of the Continent

I like getting things in the mail. Call me old-fashioned, but I grew up in a time where if you lived in rural America, you depended on mail order through paper catalogs, most particularly the Sears & Roebuck one for us. Malls were only in the big cities back then.

To me, it didn't matter if it were underwear from Sears, postcards from my grandparents' travels, or books that I ordered from the back page of a previous paperback I'd bought (yes, there was a time when you could order books directly from the publisher), I loved getting something in the mail.

People got away from sending personal mail over the last fifty-plus years. Cell phones, the internet, heck, we've gone full circle from the telegraph to texting. Even the friends my age usually send me a text on my birthday. And I'm guilty of doing the same.

But today, I got a postcard from Christy Fifield, a writer whose Kickstarter I supported. She lives in the PNW, right on the coast. We met once, before the plague times. But the postcard of Redwood Highway 1 Christy sent gave me the warm fuzzies.

Why? I admit a little bit of it was nostalgia. A larger part was someone taking the time to write out a message, stick a stamp on the card, and putting it in the mail. It's a little more effort than typing an e-mail, and that effort makes me feel all warm and tingly inside.

So thanks for making my day, Christy!

Slowly Getting Back to Normal

I spent Saturday doing a variety of errands. Like picking up most of my October ornaments from the local Hallmark. The SNW Enterprise is on back order, but it should arrive before Christmas. Since Darling Husband went with me, I bought breakfast and coffee at Starbucks for us.

Princess Bella, DH, and I munched on the breakfast sandwiches while watching a couple of episodes of Macgyver (1985). We'd originally planned to install the medicine cabinets in the master bathroom, but we haven't had a Saturday off in a month. So, we went to the Spirit Halloween store instead.

I purchased a door mat and a journal. DH finally got the fog machine he's wanted. We didn't find any inflatables to join the Skeleton Dragon, but there's always next year.

When we got home, DH watched On Patrol on REELZ (what used to be Live PD on A&E) while I stuffed envelopes with stickers, bookmarks, and magnets for the last rounds of rewards to go out from the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse Kickstarter. We topped off the evening by ordering pizza.

Yesterday, I wrote while DH watched football. It wasn't a whole lot. I'm still rotating among several manuscripts because I can't last more than a paragraph on Death in Double Mocha. Best I can do is try to finish it by the end of the month.

But this year's crap means I'll be more prepared the next time I do a Kickstarter. There's lessons in every life event.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

I'm not usually in this weird of a mood, but burn-out is real, and Disney musicals just make it worse.

Tiny Steps

Last night, I stayed up to work on admin tasks that needed to be done. Little things like reconciling the business accounts, updating one of my websites, and trying to restructure my calendar for the rest of the year.

While looking at my projects, I opened one of the files for the manuscripts I need to finish this year. I told myself to write one sentence. No heavy guilt trip for not touching it over the last three weeks. Just one sentence.

I went through the other files. Just one sentence. By the time I went to bed, I'd typed 466 words between the four manuscripts I need to finish and a book of the  heart that probably won't see the light of day until 2024 or so. But those 466 words were progress, dammit. The last decent writing day I had was September 18th, the day I woke up with the dang sore throat.

Sometimes, life throws you some pretty hard rolls. It's okay not to want to write when you're laying under that heavy roll. You need to do what's right for you to recover from what hit you.

In my case, my imagination has always been my refuge when life got shitty. By giving myself permission to only write a sentence, I got a couple of pages written.

And last night, I dreamed of a space adventure. A fun dream for the first time in three weeks. Maybe my Conscious and Subconscious realize they need to work together to pull themselves out of the morass they've sunk into.

Taking a Step Back

Those of you who pre-ordered Death in Double Mocha through Amazon should have received a note from Amazon that the pre-order has been cancelled.

Amazon allows indie authors to only postpone a pre-order once a year. I'd already had to postpone one of my spring books when my father-in-law fell and broke his hip. I never dreamed both he and my mother would pass within a few months of each other. Between being sick and traveling back to my hometown for the funeral, I lost over two weeks of productive time, and I knew I wasn't finishing Death in Double Mocha in time for its pre-order's release date.

I spoke with an Amazon rep yesterday and explained my situation. She allowed an exception considering my situation, but I had to cancel the Death in Double Mocha pre-order and re-enter it in order to keep the other pre-orders alive. (Yes, it's weird, but the rep could have easily told me to go screw myself, so I'm counting my lucky stars she didn't.)

However, I'm not going to re-enter the pre-order until I finish the first draft of the book. I admit I've opened the file a few times since I got the text from my brother. Sometimes, the words come in little fits and spurts. Sometimes, I stare at the screen, and the black marks make no sense.

When this happens, I usually jump to another project to loosen the stranglehold my critical brain has on Subconscious. That's what I'll do today.

Because the last scene I wrote before I got that text was the one where Dani's mom comes back from the dead.

Yeah, I may have some issues. LOL

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Metallica is an appropriate band to listen to while I pop off Barbie dolls' heads and remove their faces.

The Legal Mess of AI Art

AI-generated art has been a major topic of discussion among my friends lately. The topics have ranged from books to Tarot cards to wall art. The biggest worry is the lack of specific precedent in United States' legal structure. It's yet another case where tech is outstripping any rules for its use.

Shutterstock's CEO acknowledged the tip of the problematic iceberg in the company newsletter. It's not only a matter of creation, but a matter of licensing. In current legal theory, the producer of the art owns the copyright and can license it.

But who's the producer in the case of AI-generated art? The person who created the program? The person who used the software?

What few decisions that have come so far are things like the Monkey Selfie case. The U.S. Copyright Office subsequently came down with the decision that if a human wasn't substantially involved in the creation of the art, then they cannot own the copyright. They added that non-humans cannot own a copyright.

It's a freaking mess. Right now, I would suggest you be very careful with the cover artists you may use for your book covers. Because money follows success, and if your book is super-successful, then you may be courting potential legal trouble when everyone wants a slice of your pie.

Murphy Is the One True God!

I'm trying to finish writing Death in Double Mocha, but my mother died yesterday morning. The timing stresses me out, but hers is not the first death this year. And maybe the Soccer Mom series is cursed. Darling Husband's father passed right before Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice dropped.

I'm beginning to think I need to move to a state where recreational marijuana is legal.

Refilling the Creative Well

Creation needs to be fun. But when one type of creation is no longer fun, then the creator may need to take a break, or they need to return to fun things they used to do.

It used to be I would crochet afghans on Sundays while watching football. However, hot flashes have made that rather impractical. Who wants to curl up in a blanket soaked in my sweat?

Now that we have a couple of spare bedrooms, I'm turning the small bedroom into my doll design studio. I had to give up my hobby when Genius Kid was a toddler. I didn't have time, not with an active kid and practicing law full time.

After my experience this summer, I knew I needed to get back to doing something besides writing. So I collected some used Barbies, bought some acrylic paints, and found my boxes full of fabric. One of the sister-in-law's was getting rid of her sewing machine after inheriting her mom's beautiful antique one, and I offered to take it.

I'm documenting the process for for two friends. One is a painter who is curious about the process of re-painting a doll. Another is fascinated by the process. My ultimate goal is to create outfits and hair based on my characters, but I'm way out of practice after twenty years.

So I picked out three dolls that have slight flaws that can be hidden by clothing or paint. I found a lovely bridal dress pattern on Etsy, but I plan to modify it slightly to create ball gowns. And I have some awesome Halloween-themed fabrics. So I decided to redesign the three dolls into a Halloween Ball theme.

Here we are at the beginning. I'm still working on clearing boxes from the bedroom. The room will get a thoroughly cleaning and organizing once I've finished writing Death in Double Mocha.

Since I plan to re-root and re-paint the dolls, the first thing I needed to do was to carefully remove the heads. Why did I this? Regardless of the method I use to re-root the dolls' locks, I need access to the interior for knotting or glue.

The next steps include washing the exterior of the bodies to remove dirt and hopefully a few stains. I'll cut off the dolls' hair and clean out roots from the interior of the head. Finally, I'll remove the current facepaint.

Last Friday night, I sketched out the first dress. All the prep work will take the rest of the September and most of October.

Don't worry, folks. I'm not changing WWW into a doll blog. This is just a lesson I forgot and nearly paid the price for it. You need additional outlets beside writing. Otherwise, you could burn yourself out like I almost did.

To Forgive is Divine

I've been a little too distracted to post music the last couple of weeks. But that doesn't mean I haven't been listening in real life. And I've been on a Metallica kick because of life.

Banned Books Week

George Orwell was right about controlled media. He was just thirty-eight years too early.

I find it ironic that his 1984 is currently the most banned book in the U.S. Think about what that says. How close we are to fascism while pretending we're not. Yet, it was the most read book in 1984.

So many banned books are on my shelves: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Hunger Games, the Harry Potter series, The Handmaid's Tale, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Sandman, Batman: The Killing Joke, Watchmen, The Graveyard Book, Twilight, etc.

There were the classics I read in school: Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet, Brave New World, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Julie of the Wolves, etc.

There are books I read out of curiosity: Fifty Shades of Grey, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, etc.

There are books I haven't read yet, but I want to: Beloved, Saga, The Color Purple. His Dark Materials, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Bridge to Terabithia, Maus, etc.

What does this say about me? I'm not afraid of ideas. I'm not afraid of sharing ideas with my son.

For example, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry was on a recommended reading list for Genius Kid's grade when I was homeschooling him. We alternated weeks with him selecting one book from the recommended reading list and the next week selecting something for fun. When he choose Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, I needed to read it in order to create a post-reading quiz for him.

These books are important to talk over with your children, about what values you want to instill in them and why. Hiding them from your children doesn't engender the trust you need to build with them in order for them to take your values seriously.

It's Not COVID-19!

I'm down with a summer cold (I hope), so my few spoons must be directed at writing and editing. In the meantime, here's a cute picture for all you folks who think Christmas comes before Halloween.

See y'all Wednesday! Stay healthy!

Everyone Starts Somewhere

I keep hearing baby writers worried about learning curves and time. It's an incredibly naive way at looking at the universe. Time marches on for every single human on this planet. The only question is what do you do with that time.

Or maybe I really did get lucky. You see I didn't have grandparents or even great-grandparents that quit living when they reached a certain age. One grandmother didn't graduate high school, but she could give most botanists and ornithologists a run for their money. The other grandmother worked her way through college during the Great Depression. One great-grandfather literally farmed until the day he died at the age of 92.

I got in a discussion/argument during a science ethics class with the professor. At what age do you quit? Quit learning. Quit growing. Quit living. My point was they are all the same thing. His argument was people get tired or they've reached a peak and they stop. The problem is we are both right.

Some people create their own timer of when to stop living. Or writing.

And it's not a function of age either. It's what you decide. Not what other people think.

When I was in law school, I was in in my thirties. I didn't have a whole lot in common with the students fresh out of college. No, I hung out with the other students who treated law as a second or third career. The folks in their forties through their sixties.

It doesn't matter when you start writing or publishing. You need to learn the craft and master the tools. You're still going to be ten years older a decade from now whether you write and study or not. If you don't want to write, that's fine. But do it or don't do it because that's what you want. Not because you're whining that it's going to take too long.

We all start somewhere at some point in time. Go read Aesop's The Hare and the Tortoise is you need some perspective.

A Kickstarter on the Edge

Not my Kickstarter.

No, this one is for Hugo-winning, best-selling writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch. She's back in the world of the Fey after a long drought, and this Kickstarter is to launch the first new novel in the series.

The pluses to this Kickstarter are reissues of the previous seven novels in e-book, paperback, and hardcover. They received glorious new covers, and the text has been restored to the author-approved versions.

Also, if you're interested writing fantasy, the rewards contain two new writing workshops about magic systems and steampunk at discounted prices.

As of this posting, you have 24-hours to pick up this gem of a series, a new novel, and new classes, plus some really cool stretch goals! Check it out before it's too late!

Three Down, One More to Go!

I finished the third book in the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse quadrilogy, War in White Chocolate, early yesterday evening.

Alas, there is no rest of the wicked. I need to finish the last proof of the paperback for Famine in French Vanilla today and jump into writing Death in Double Mocha.

Ironically, there's been three deaths in the family over the last eight months, and frankly, I'm not only peopled-out and funeraled-out, I'm approaching burn-out with my writing. It's not a good feeling, and a friend I trust said it was rather obvious in the last 888-555-HERO book.

That's not a good sign.

I plan to finish the Kickstarter books, and write Invasion! and the other two books on pre-order. Then, I will take a huge break for a couple of months. I really need to refill my creative well.

Part of the plan is to start working on OOAK Barbies again. I haven't had time to sew, much less face paint or re-root hair since Genius Kid was a toddler. And yes, I'll post pictures over the coming months.

There's also the MCU movies and series I haven't had a chance to watch over the last two years. I have over a thousand unread books, including research tomes for future writing projects. (She says as the gods on the cover of Budge's The Book of the Dead stare at her.)

I will still be writing, though not at the furious pace I have been since I recovered from cancer surgery. I've been working at such a ridiculous speed because I feared dying before I could write down all the stories in my head. Then I buried myself in writing to keep from stressing out over the pandemic.

None of this crazy behavior is healthy for anyone. And I need to relearn how to live.

We all do after the damn pandemic.

Hug your loved ones and furbabies. Take care of yourselves. And as the Doctor says, be kind to others.

The Queen is Dead

I'm not a British citizen, but yesterday's announcement of Queen Elizabeth II's death felt like a kick in the gut. It seemed like she'd live forever. Just like the Queen Mum. But alas, all things pass, and she was in her beloved Balmoral Castle when she left this plain of existence.

With that smile, she reminds me of my paternal grandmother. Both ladies were classy, but didn't take anyone's crap, and they had a wicked sense of humor.

The Queen took her duties seriously. She was an ambulance driver during World War II. She spoke to her nation in times of crisis.

And she scared the piss out of the King of Saudi Arabia when she drove him cross-country over the Balmoral Castle estate in her Range Rover.

My sympathies go out to her family and the United Kingdom in their time of loss.

Long live the Queen!

A Change in the Air

A couple of days ago, I stood at the kitchen sink. The window overlooks the neighbor's backyard. There's a small tree by his deck, and the leaves had already turned yellow. As I watched, the small tree dropped nearly every leave, a la the Whomping Willow in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I thoroughly expected the tree to shake itself in order to dislodge the last few stragglers clinging to its branches.

The tree reminded me the warm days are coming to an end. I've stocked up on tea and coffee. I found some sugar-free peppermint mocha and pumpkin spice creamers. It's time for spilling words on cold days with a warm puppy on my lap.

Speaking of which, I need to go finish up a novel now that a huge chunk of furniture is out of the father-in-law's old Victorian. I'm so ready for the physical break.

Happy Labor Day

I've spent Labor Day weekend doing...labor. DH and his sisters rented a moving truck to deliver the bigger furniture they wish to keep from the parent's house to their houses. And yes, the spouses helped with the heavy lifting. That doesn't bother me one bit.

What does bother me is friggin' Christmas stuff in the stores two months before Halloween! Yes, it does make me want to kidnap the Sandy Claws and stuff him in a bag!

Summer Music I've Been Listening To

While not technically the last weekend of summer, the season is over for all the kids on Tuesday.

Randy Penguin Is Shooting Blanks

Since I'm a recovering attorney, other writers asked me about the trial in U.S. v. Bertelsmann SE & CO KGaA et al.

A lot.

Except that's not how the other writers describe the above case. It's all about Randy Penguin's attempt to buy Simon & Schuster, and the Department of Justice's anti-trust lawsuit.

So, what do I really think?

After Penguin's purchase of Random House, we were down to five major book publishers left in the U.S. Only one of these five publishers was completely owned by a U.S. company--Simon & Schuster.

In my limited knowledge of anti-trust law, I figured if any of the remaining publishers (all owned by foreign interests) tried to buy Simon & Schuster, the DOJ would have something to say about the merger/buy-out. Besides, it doesn't look good if the U.S. and its precious First Amendment allows all major publishers to be owned by foreign interests.

After three weeks of witnesses, both lay and expert, the bulk of Randy Penguin's defense is "We're incompetent."

WTF?!

Basically, Randy Penguin give one line to the writers (without whom they wouldn't have a product to sell) and the opposite of that one line to Judge Florence Pan. And it sounds like Judge Pan doesn't like their Kool-Aid.

For a decent lay article on the trial, check out Vox's summary. Publishers Weekly has a detailed run down on their website.

As I write this on Thursday evening, I could not find a final ruling on the trial by Judge Pan, which is not unusual in a Federal bench case. It will be interesting to see where the final decision lands, but I'm putting my money on the DOJ.

The one thing that amused me out of all the hullabaloo was Randy Penguin trying to introduce evidence that the indies sell more books than Randy Penguin does. However, where do they get the numbers to prove it? LOL

PSL Season Is Here!

I didn't post last Friday or yesterday because I've been sleeping. Our household is trying to adjust to a new normal. DH was at his father's apartment quite a bit before FIL passed in May. Now, DH finds himself with plenty of time on his hands and wants to spend it with me.

Which is totally fine. But I've got to write. Which means I often have to wait until he goes to bed before I have enough peace and quiet so I can work. And then I have to be up at normal people time for doctor's appointments or to talk with the landscaper or take Princess Bella in to have her hair and nails done.

So when I have a chance to sleep, I'm not waking up until six or seven in the evening. Which means DH and Princess Bella are both so excited to see me.

And we start all over again.

Thank the gods it's PSL season! I'm going to need it for the rest of this week!

Summer Music I've Been Listening To

For the last weekend of August...

Slowing Down

2022 has been a chaotic year. I could list everything, but I'm not going to bore you. Suffice it to say, the stress has been bad enough that my blood sugars are seriously out of whack.

So I'm going to take a few months off from publishing. Not writing, mind you. I would drive myself crazy if I did that.  And I will publish the handful of volumes that are already on preorder for the next eight months, plus Invasion! Which I really need to set up the pre-order for that one, too.

But I need to focus on diet and exercise for a little while. Try to get things stable again. Slow down and smell the last roses of the season before they're gone. Maybe finish unpacking the boxes that have been sitting in the living room for the past year and a half. Pick up my OOAK Barbie hobby again.

We all need that breather. No one ever says they didn't work enough on their deathbeds.

Besides, I want a Pumpkin Spice latte when the season starts next week!

Flipping the Script on Interracial Dynamics

I stumbled across this interesting article about how the White Boyfriend trope in romance has changed.

I wrote a handful of interracial romances 10-20 years ago. Today, if I tried, I'd probably get lambasted. Yet, Summer from the Seasons of Magick series is popular because it's an interracial romance of two non-white characters.

There are some who probably think I should take the story down because I overstepped as a white woman. If I did, I'd have to take down almost all my series because I do a hell of a lot of racial mixing in them. Frankly, it's probably accepted by the readers because most of them are fantasy.

But in Summer, the real trope is the girl-next-door finally noticing the boy-next-door in combination with a twist on the horror trope of dying because the teens had sex. (Before anyone throws a fit about underage characters, both Jamal and Shan are eighteen.) The story would be classified as sweet if I took out the sex and the kiang-shi.

On the other hand, I'm kind of glad to see more contemporary stories where the white guy is struggling with his privilege. It means the worldview is changing, I hope for the better. These stories show that communication is possible even if it's difficult as hell.

I've  already been accused of being woke and anti-white in some reviews. But we need to continue the hard work of understanding each other. I know I'm going to fuck up sometimes, but I work to do better. I hope everyone else does the same.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

From Eminem to Alexander Hamilton, we're not going to miss out shot!

And Then There Was More!

Netflix and Neil Gaiman dropped bonus episodes of Sandman. Fair warning: this is Calliope's story. I'll see y'all on the other side of the weekend.