June is For Madonna

Madonna's style changed yet again with the birth of her first child Lourdes.

Planes and Thunderstorms Do Not Mix

I was supposed to be driving to the Detroit International Airport this evening, As I was climbing into the car, I got a text from the airline that said my flight was extremely delayed. So delayed in fact, that I would miss my connecting flight in St. Louis, the last last flight of the day to San Antonio.

A massive series of thunderstorms have been moving through the Midwest today, so I wasn't very surprised. After the heat dome and no rain for the last two weeks, we badly needed the precipitation in our neck of the woods.

While checking into the first text, I was also rather happy I got a second text from Southwest, letting me know my flight was already rescheduled for tomorrow morning. I can't fault their customer service, especially when Mother Nature is far beyond their control.

I'm a little disappointed in that I'll need to sleep most of Thursday since I'll be up for 24 hours straight. I'd been looking forward to a day of solid writing while Genius Kid finishes up errands before he can officially go on leave, but like he said, if we need to stay an extra day, it's not going to hurt either of us. However, I've been on a roll writing A Cup of Conflict, and I hope losing two days doesn't break my mental streak. Alas, life likes to roll over us as we try to plan.

In the meantime, I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Monday Movie Mania - IF

This is definitely one case where you shouldn't listen to the critics!

IF is not a true comedy despite what the ads insinuate. And for once, the trailers don't give away what's really going on in a movie. The story has more of an UP feel. Life has its good and bad, but we humans tend to lean too much into the bad. We forget to celebrate the good.

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SPOILERS

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PROS
1) John Krasinski's writing and directing are dead-on as usual.

2) Ryan Reynolds is as funny as usual, but also crochety and tender, showing his range as an actor.

3) Fiona Shaw is more widely known as Harry Potter's Aunt Petunia. However, her role as Bea's flighty grandmother demonstrates why she's one of Ireland's top actors.

4) Cailey Fleming was definitely a favorite among some of my friends who loved The Walking Dead. As Bea, she turns up the star power in IF. She's definitely an actor to keep an eye on in the future. She's got the right touch of emotions in the right places, and she doesn't overact like so many child performers.

5) And of course, there's a loving tribute to Louis Gosset Jr. as Lewis. This was Gosset's last feature film.

CONS
1) The only cons to this movie are the critics who are to jaded to get the story.


Overall, I give IF 10 stars out of 10 for celebrating the memories of our childhoods.

June is for Madonna

Madonna's religious symbolism raised an uproar with the Like a Prayer album from 1989. She lost her advertising deal with Pepsi after using this song in one of their ads.

Motivation

Losing motivation can be a common thing with any artist.

There are times when you've busted your ass, and someone, well meaning or not, can deliver an awful critique. Or you fail to hit goals, whether unrealistic or not. Or you experience a major life roll that knocks you on your butt. Or you burn out due to various reasons.

In my case, the last ten years have been super stressful. The family moved 1200 miles. I was diagnosed with breast cancer. DH and I lost all four of our parents. Our only child joined the military. The COVID pandemic happened, and we lost some people we cared about. We moved into a new house, and we haven't really had a chance to unpack.

After all that, I didn't really break down until this year. Normally, I have 200K words written by this time of year. Today, I finally hit 40K.

Yeah, I know. HUGE difference.

Something needed to change. I started taking yoga classes. I took a short five-day vacation to one of my favorite cities with a new friend.

But most importantly, I started writing in the afternoons and evenings with some long distance writer friends.

The nice thing is there's no weird competition with these folks. We all write some combo of fantasy and romance, but not the same subgenres. We share tips and tricks. We write hard, then break to share covers or puppy pics.

These particular things might not motivate you, and that's fine. Experiment with what might work for you.

 One gal I know bought a house with a pool. Her rule is she can't use the pool until she gets her words in for the day. This time of year, she's done by 11 am, so she can sun and do laps.

Someone else buys shoes (her obsession) when she finishes a novel or the equivalent of novelas.

Another writer gets their exercise in first, so her writing is her reward for running a couple of miles.

There's not a one-size-fits-all approach to motivation. You need to figure out what works for you.

In the meantime, a HUGE THANK YOU to Candi, Kate, and Madi for helping me get back on track for 2024!

An Early Summer

Yep, summer has arrived four days early.

I was actually awake by 10:30 a.m. Princess Bella needed a constitutional shortly thereafter, and [Insert the obscenity of your choice], it was over ninety degrees outside already. The heat dome is supposed to sit on top of the Great Lakes/Ohio Valley region for the next seven days with very little chance of rain.

We had a two weeks of perfect weather at the beginning of June after all the freaking rain during March, April, and May. But alas, that may become an unusual occurrence over the next few decades.

The heat dome means I need to walk the princess puppy around sundown, assuming it's cool enough to do so. Plus, we need to make sure we all drink plenty of water.

On the other side of the equation, I don't have an excuse not to get writing and editing in if the princess and I need to stay inside. Surprisingly, I got a good chunk written yesterday while DH watched movies and talked to GK.

Be safe, my readers! Hydrate and stay cool!

June Is For Madonna

The 1984 MTV Music Awards were many people's first introduction to Madonna.

Do You Need an Editor?

Well, it depends on your level of knowledge in regards to grammar and spelling. By the way, this post is primarily aimed at writers looking to publish their prose fiction.

I'm rehashing the types of editors because once again, a writer told me they needed a developmental editor.

The only reason you'd EVER need a developmental editor would be if you never read fiction or watch TV or movies. Humans are inherently consumers of stories, whether it be nursery rhymes, the MCU, or your favorites uncle's wild tall tales. We instinctively understand story structure. Sometimes, a writer needs a course or a how-to book to point out what they already know. However, it amazes me how many writers don't trust themselves when it comes to storytelling.

What bothers me (in my experience) is how developmental editors want to change a writer's story to what the editor would tell, not improving the existing story. . I know developmental editors will deny that with their dying breath, so let's forget about developmental editors for the moment.

 

1) Copyeditors - These are the people who check for plot holes and consistency. 

Example: In the Bloodlines and Millersburg Magick Mysteries, my vampires' eyes turned a neon color and glow during extreme emotion or hunger. A copyeditor would make sure the story rules are maintained.

2) Line editors - These are the people who check the flow, style, and readability.

Example: I have a bad habit of repeating words in the same paragraph or page. A line editor would tag my repetitious use of "parking lot" or "spell".

3) Proof reader - These are the people that nitpick spelling and grammar.

Another one of my bad habits is typing "my" when I mean "my" and vice versa. leaving out prepositions and articles, or typing a comma when I mean a period. A really good proofreader would catch those mistakes that sleppied by the copyeditors and line editors.

4) Acquiring editors - These are the people who license books to be published by a trad publisher.

Example: A friend's novel was acquired and published by a now-defunct traditional publisher. When she got the rights back, a company scanned the book into a PDF. The friends then asked me to convert the PDF into a MS-WORD document.

There were still a ton of typos. Some were introduced by the publisher. Some were caused by the scanning software. I fixed them before I returned to the files to my friend. How do I know some of the typos were introduced my the publisher? I still had a copy of the nook file she submitted to the publisher for comparison.

What's worse is the remaining trad publishing  houses aren't paying for in-house editing. The cost is getting dumped on the writer, even though the trad publishers claim that's a service they still offer.

So do you need an editor? An editor should improve your work, not change it to fit their image of what your story should be. In the end, hiring one is totally up to your and your pocket book. However, you can save money by either learning to do it yourself or trading manuscripts with another writer.

Best wishes of your new career!

Hump Day!

A little double entendre tile for this mid-week post. I've been getting stuck on A Cup of Conflict and Death Goddess Walking. Mainly because the characters in each are going in different directions than I'd originally planned.

Yes, my imaginary people have minds of their own.

So when I need a break for things to percolate lately, I've been going through an Alter Ego book from 2003 that was never finished. I'd forgotten how much fun it was, so I added it to my spreadsheet to finish it. Like my two current fantasy wips, the characters made an unexpected left turn along the way.

Plus the mystery is a little deeper and the romance has become a little more complicated. There's a little kink, but not as much as Alter Ego's other books.

The big problem is updating this proto-novel for the passing of the last twenty-one years. Damn, it's amazing how much has changed in our world.

And how much hasn't changed at all.

A Needed Break

DH and I took a three-day weekend to visit some friends in Cincinnati. The four of us did a lot of eating and talking and in DH's case, helping them install a TV over their bar in the basement game room. On Saturday night, we went to see Christopher Titus at the Funny Bone. Titus's wife Rachel Bradley was his opening act. In both cases, I laughed so hard I nearly peed myself.

Yep, that's my criteria for a stand-up show. Don't worry. I was wearing a Discreet pad just in case!

Seriously, kudos to anyone who can turn their pain into art. Double kudos if you can make me laugh about it when we both should be crying.

Here's Titus's first special up on Youtube!

June is for Madonna

Both Madonna and I were pregnant with our sons when she dropped the title single from her album, Music.

Getting My Second Wind

There's been a lot of things going on in Casa Harden since January. DH is trying to finalize his dad's estate. GK is about to deploy overseas, and some things needed to be taken care of on our end. I've been trying to unpack boxes on a regular schedule. And with the early spring thanks to climate change, the flowers and weeds went crazy around the house.

I'm still playing catch-up on that last one.

Needless to say, I haven't spent as much time with my butt in my chair and my fingers on the keyboard, producing new words. (BICFOK) Usually, living in Northern Ohio means snow into March and sometimes April. I stay inside with hot tea and Princess Bella sleeping on my lap. I show have 150K new words 

Instead, I have 33.5K.

I don't expect to catch up. That a fool's goal, and I'm not driving myself into a heart or stroke trying, But I do have some specific writing goals, and I will focus on those over the rest of the summer.

I hope the rest of 2023 will be more sedate and productive.

It's Okay to Say I Don't Know

Yesterday, my formatter e-mailed me. Another client of hers was worried about their distributor and how long it took before their book would go live on retailer sites.

I don't use this particular distributor, so I was honest. I replied, "I don't know."

People today are so afraid of that three-word phrase. They don't want to be seen as incompetent. They're worried about their image, especially if they've built up their image as a  guru.

But here's the thing--no one knows everything. And it's okay.

The rest of my response is also important--I said, "Let me check around and see if I can find out."

Sure enough, I got an answer fairly quickly, but as I opened my e-mail app to reply, I got another e-mail from my formatter that said, "Never mind."

The other client had a bad case of nerves. I'm assuming it was their very first release. Publishing a book for the first time is incredibly fraught for any writer, whether it be trad or indie. The anxiety and fear can be a little overwhelming for any writer, new and experienced. I'm not giving the other client a hard time. Hell, I've been there.

But the important thing is neither our formatter nor I gave the newbie some bullshit answer. We both said we're not sure, but let us check with our sources.

By being honest, trust is built in the relationship. And if someone can't handle an "I don't know" from their co-workers, they're probably not someone you want to work with anyway.

I Agree with Garfield

Mondays are a pain in the ass. Everybody wants something. I try not to contact my freelancers on Mondays because I now what the constant interruptions feel like. It's taken me ten hours to write this little post because of interruptions.

Today was not exception. I had a stack of things to do, so I didn't go to yoga class this morning. However, my alarm still failed to go off. Or I shut it off in my sleep. I'm not sure which. DH said he thinks he heard something, but he wasn't sure himself because...

Yep, everything hit the fan with his job. His phone rang consistently all day between and during meetings.

It kind of makes me want to move to a Caribbean with its slower lifestyle.

The good thing is we're taking the weekend off to go see Christopher Titus' show in Cincinnati this weekend. I know the week's barely started, but I definitely need a break.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

I changed the battery on my ancient iPhone 4, which has become my de facto iPod. I've been rolling through some older music I have listened to in a while, and I'd forgotten how much I loved Madonna back in my formative years. Here's the first song of hers I heard.