At a Crossroads?

I'm sitting here, munching on breakfast, which happens to be leftover cabbage and chow mein noodles from the kung pao chicken I ordered over the weekend. I'm looking at my business plan for this year, and wondering if I'm making the right decisions.

I'm not asking for advice here. There's a little niggle inside my brain that's trying to tell me something. But I can't really hear it yet. Do I need to slow down? Speed up? Change projects? Change careers? Change zip codes?

Or could it be the ten-year itch?

You see, I have this habit/need to change careers every ten years. I jumped from IT to law to writing fiction. Generally, the trigger is boredom. Except I'm not bored. At least, I don't think I'm bored.

I want to know what happens next with all my heroines. If I don't write their stories, no one else will.

Or maybe, I'm just unconsciously freaking about doing my taxes. The numerical equivalent of my parents asking me why I write.

I don't know what happens next, but a decision will be made. Because punting the decision is a decision in and of itself.

Coming Up with Ideas

If you want to be a writer, you need to come up with ideas, Except most of us had our imaginations knocked out of us when we were children.

"That's stupid!"

"Quit daydreaming!"

"Imaginary friends don't exist!"

And once that imagination is knocked out of your head, it's hard to get it back. Pure play isn't allowed in in American society.

So if you're a writer (or want to be one) and you're stuck, find some preschoolers and let them teach you how to play again.

**NOTE: Please make sure you obtain the parents' permission before playing with the preschoolers.

Here's a little suggestion video. Are you Squidward or are you Spongebob?

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

How can you NOT get jiggy with this?

Social Waves

Over the years, I got a lot of "You'll understand when you're older." It's expected between birth and leaving high school. Maybe some more in your twenties and thirties. But I was told that a lot during my forties and fifties. I'm not sure why. Maybe my Coke-bottle glasses hid my lines and the bags under my eyes.

But one thing about turning the big 6-0 next year is I notice the ebbs and flows of our society. Especially when it comes to my chosen professions. For now, we'll stick to the publishing industry.

There were friends who were so excited about getting a trad publishing deal, only to have shit happen around the time of their release. One gal's came out on the second Tuesday of September in 2001. Yep, 9/11. Tons of books, movies, and records that came out at that time were dead on arrival all over the United States.

Another friend's debut novel was supposed to come out on September 16, 2008. She had personal appearances lined up in books stores all over southeast Texas, especially the Houston metro area. Mother nature has other plans. Hurricane Ike made land fall on Galveston and ripped through Houston. Most of her books never made it to stores between flooding, road closures, no power, etc.

People in the business longer than me will be the first to tell you to expect a dip in sales during presidential election years if you publish/sell fiction in the U.S. Citizens pay more attention to politics major election years. That's been especially true over the last four presidential election years, and the obsession has already started for 2024.

Writers also forget about natural disasters. Hurricane Ike hasn't been the only problem. Then there's the man-made disasters like 9/11.

But the big wave writers have ignore is the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales shot up during lockdowns because readers could download ebooks and audiobooks or order paper books for delivery to their doorstep. But the surge wasn't going to be sustainable or permanent. Eventually, the lockdowns would end, and everyone around the world would return to their real lives.

I made my prediction based on the Spanish Influenza pandemic a century ago. It took our great-great-grandparents roughly three years to gain herd immunity from that devastating disease. I figured it would be roughly the same with COVID-19.

Sure enough, all the writers I know and a lot I didn't bitched about the drop in sales in 2023 when things opened again around the world. Folks could travel, not just to see family, but to hug them. Who on earth is going to read when they haven't been able hug someone they love.

So, the 2023 travel surge led straight into the current obsession over the 2024 presidential election. I don't expect a major uptick in my sales this year, so I'm using 2024 for experimentation with both writing and new sales outlets. If I fail at either, well, no one's really paying attention right now.

Goddess, I miss the days when Johnny Carson joked about President Ford's clumsiness.

Is Barbie Punished by the Academy Awards for Being Successful?

The Oscar nominations came out yesterday with some very obvious snubs. The 2024 Academy Awards should have been a battle between Barbie and Oppenheimer. Instead, Barbie didn't get nominations for Best Director or Best Actress.

I'm looking at the list and thinking WTF?!

A lot of folks are outraged Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie didn't get nods for Best Director and Best Actress. The speculation is that they were dissed for being women. That may be so, but there are other factors involved.

First, the Academy rarely nominates movies that are super successful. There's a bias within the membership that a financially successful movie has no artistic merit. Which is total bullshit of course, but it's part of a trend in mentality between the so-called elite and hoi poloi.

Second, Barbie is based on a popular toy. It doesn't matter that the cast and crew used this toy to used to slice apart and comment the social and emotional inequality forming our culture that harms all genders. According to adults, the sheer existence of a toy isn't mature or serious enough to merit an award nomination.

In an ironic turn to America Ferrara's excellent monologue, Greta and Margot were deprived of Oscar noms for the very contradictions Gloria lists in her speech.

Maybe it does come down to Greta and Margot being women.

And that totally sucks.

However, America's speech totally netted her nomination as Best Supporting Actress. If you haven't seen the movie, here's her clip:

Monday Movie Mania - Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

I honestly don't get the hate the critics and the public throw at the DC movies. Jason Momoa made Aquaman cool, but even that isn't enough for some people.

However, I loved Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom!


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SPOILERS!

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PROS
1) The film focuses on Arthur and his relationships with his family, same as the first, but the story line expands and changes those same relationships.

2) Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson have some awesome chemistry when it comes to sibling rivalry. Total bromance!

3) Several family members are injured, but none of them were fridged to provide an emotional revenge motivation for Arthur.

4) Arthur Jr. showing off his powers.

5) The story kept Black Manta's hatred for Aquaman consistent in order to contrast with Orm's story arc.

6) Orm developing a taste for a certain crunchy land delight.


CONS
1) The inconsistent music used in the movie. The disco stuff made no sense.

2) Too much of Arthur's final speech before the U.N. was lifted from Tony's final speech in Ironman. Warner Brothers needs to stop imitating Marvel. DC has tons of its own great stuff!


Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was a by-the-book hero's journey. Overall, I give it 8 stars out of 10.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

A rapper who can be sexy without swearing!

Protect the Work

The Universe has been sending me that message a lot lately. Lilith Saintcrow had blog post about the subject. She pointed to an essay by Jenny Cruisie. Even Jenny's writing partner Bob Mayer said something to the effect of focusing on the story how ever it works for you.

Maybe that's part of why I don't understand other writers' need for external validation. Maybe that's part of why I dislike writers and artists depending on AI.

And it goes back to trusting your muse.

I often refer to my Subconscious as my muse. And for her to do her magic, I need to sleep.

After the extra sleep post surgeries, the internal brain switch flicked into insomnia for the last week and a half. Which is as bad as oversleeping. *sigh*

However, I have done very little new writing since before Thanksgiving between re-editing the third volume of Millersburg Magick Mysteries and dealing with the eye surgeries.

And with the last couple of nights of normal 8-9 hours of sleep, Subconscious has been weaving her magick tapestry. I've woken up and immediately wanted to start on the stories she suggested. At least the ones I can legally write about. LOL But it's her hint that she's ready to get back to work.

So for me, doing the little things to protect the work include appropriate sleep, a working laptop. and never showing a story to anyone until it's done.

YMMV

Why Don't Writers Trust Their Own Talent?

We writers have an inherent self-esteem problem. The trad publishers have known this for the last forty years. They've preyed on writers and used gaslighting and threats to keep writers under their collective thumbs.

You'd think with the advent of Amazon's Kindle and other indie publishing routes writers would trust their own instincts. But nope. Writers as a collective don't trust their own skills to write a good story, but we don't.

Instead of relishing our freedom under the new paradigm, we recreate the same psychological obstacles that had been inflicted on us through trad publishing.

Writing by committee has transformed from the publishing house editor and your agent to beta readers and book doctors. The problem is the writers using this method feel they need outside validation in order to succeed in this industry.

Under a similar outside validation need are reviews. Writer beg for reviews. However, those reviews, both good and bad, affect the writers in the worse ways. If the reviews are overwhelmingly positive, the writer stops learning and experimenting. They fear changing their style, but that style becomes stale over time, and they lose readers. Or if the writer receives bad reviews. they often quit doing something they loved, even become suicidal due to the perceived rejection.

No one likes everything, and a story won't be liked by everyone. Invariably every writer gets bad reviews. However, many of these reviews have nothing to do with the writer's actual work. In fact, reviews are often weaponized for a multitude of reasons, including jealousy and hatred.

Seriously, my favorite bad review of my own claimed I wrote anti-white, feminazi propaganda. And this was for a superhero story.You've got to laugh at people who take things so passionately the opposite of a work's intent.

I believe a lot of this need for outside validation stems from a fear of failure But outside assessments have nothing to do with a writer's success or failure. In the long run, using other people to review your work, whether prior to or after publication, is no guarantee of success, money, validation or whatever need isn't being met in the writer's soul.

Write what's in your heart, what entertains you, and/or the story you haven't seen in your that tickles your fancy. Most of all, enjoy the process.

F*cking Cold!

It was 60F on Christmas Day. Yesterday, we didn't even hit the projected high of 9F. The National Weather Service has extended their wind chill advisory for our area to Wednesday at noon.

Needless to say, Princess Bella does not mess around during her constitutional. Even wearing her winter coat, she races out to do her business and races back to the house. She's spent the entire weekend either curled up on DH's lap or tucked under my laptop in order to stay warm.

She still refuses to wear the matching boots I bought for her. We've been checking her feet to make sure there's no frostbite.

And I'm beginning to believe I was a bear or some other hibernating mammal in a previous life. My attempt to reset my internal clock over the weekend has not worked. DH had to wake me up in time for my beloved Steelers playoff game this afternoon. While we watch the game, the local Toldeo station is already display school closings and delays for tomorrow.

Yeah, tomorrow will be a good day for hot coffee/tea and writing.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

From one of my favorite movies!

A Non-Productive Week

This week has been a total waste thanks to my SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), despite keeping up on my Vitamin D supplements. The weather has been dark and overcast, alternating between rain and snow with all other types of precipitation in between. I've been sleeping between twelve and seventeen hours a day.

When I am awake, I've got a load of household chores staked up thanks to the cataract surgeries. I'm slowly wrapping holiday packages and sending them out to friends and family. And putting things back in order now that GK and Grandpuppy are back home in Texas again.

Once this weekend's storm is over, I need to start setting my alarm and going to the local Starbucks in the mornings to write. It may mean sleeping the rest of the afternoon away, but it would let me be a little more productive.

I hope.

In the meantime, play it safe this weekend, folks. Stay home and stay warm while Winter Storm Gerri roars through the country. Few things are important enough to put your life and the lives of the first responders in danger.

Instead, make your favorite hot beverage, cuddle with your loved ones and/or furbabies, and watch something awesome. In our case, it will be the NFL payoff games.

Assuming I can stay awake.

Too Much Peopling

I took DH to his eye doctor appointment early this morning. We picked up breakfast on the way home. The pups and I shared two McMuffins "with 'Murican bacon!"1

I thought I'd get a ton of stuff done today since I was up at a reasonable time. Instead, the pups and I fell asleep. The pups until they had to pee. Me until eight p.m.

Yep, I slept the day away. *groan*

I think most of it was collective exhaustion. I've been running around to numerous doctors' appointments for the last month. Dropping off cars for maintenance and repairs and picking them up. Throw in family get-togethers once everyone was over their Christmas colds while the kids are still home for the holidays. And now that my eyes have healed enough, I've been FINALLY wrapping and delivering or shipping presents.

And it doesn't help that I've been trying to cut back on caffeine.

But I think my introverted self is developing a lower tolerance for being around people. These are people I like for crying out loud, not people I can't tolerate. I mean we had brunch with friends who may go out to Vegas with us for renewing our vows.

But tonight, it's just DH, GK, and me, and the guys were hungry by the time I woke up. So, we splurged tonight and got some pizza before we kicked back and watched a couple of episodes of Jeopardy. The guys are now playing PC games while I go through my snail mail and email.

And then, I'll definitely get some writing done. LOL

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1 The kids working at our local McDonald's get a kick out of me ordering an Egg McMuffin and telling them to substitute the Canadian bacon this way. I'm not a fan of smoked pork chop on my breakfast sandwich.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Yep, it's now 2024, and I'm still listening to my 90's jams. There'ssomething to be said when a rapper just wants to have fun.

Driving Again!

I've been pretty independent since I graduated from college. This wasn't the first time I couldn't drive due to a surgery, but it affected me more.

Why? Because I'm realizing how little time I still have on this planet. Watching family and friends lose their mobility sucks. And I realize I may have the same problems within the next twenty years, which doubly sucks.

For the past three weeks, DH has had to drive me everywhere. Even to Starbucks. I really don't like feeling helpless, but when I can't even go out and buy my own dang cup of peppermint, it feels even worse.

But today, I drove my car home from the shop after the new brakes were installed. And I felt the same power I felt when I got my very first apartment,

And it was a most excellent feeling!

Back in the Saddle

I've been writing since January 1st. Not much. My body is still getting used to my bionic vision so I can only stay on my laptop for short periods, but longer than I could with the double vision. However the small amounts are a start.

What I needed to do was go back and re-read the last couple of chapters of the wips in order to remember where I'd left off back at Thanksgiving. I didn't get as much writing done on our vacation as I'd hoped. Before we left, DH was rather passe about what he wanted to do or see in Las Vegas. But when we got there...

He had something scheduled for every day. Or multiple things for a day. It was such a hectic schedule I ended up napping quite a bit in our car.

So it feels good and weird at the same time to be writing again.

I'm considering participating another challenge Dean Wesley Smith is running this year--2024 words per day for 2024. The buy-in is $600, which would light a fire under my butt. In theory, the challenge is totally doable. I just don't want to tempt the Great God Murphy into throwing another life roll at me,

2023 was pretty good because I was taking it easy. Or I was until I decided to do the Witchstarter at the last minute. Then, I ended up in a surgical bay with a laser cutting up my bad eye lenses.

I know the readers will be all for it. More books for them after all! But I want plenty of time to make sure the stories are good.

So, it's something to think about for the next two days before sign-ups close. For those writers who want to check out Dean's challenge, here's the details in his own words.