May the Fourth Be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day!

And thank you, Peter Mayhew, for being the awesomest Wookie ever! Tell Carrie we miss you both!

Sticking to a Schedule

In trying to get all my minutiae finished for Hero De Novo, I find myself still awake at 4:30 a.m.

No, I haven't been to bed yet. No, it's not insomnia for once. This is my own stubbornness of sticking to a publishing schedule.

I need to learn how to stick to a schedule again if I want my business to work. Back in 2012 and 2013, I didn't have a problem. I HAD to schedule everything, or nothing got done. I was homeschooling, working a retail job, and writing.

When everything fell apart in 2013, I still managed to keep a schedule. I would have collapsed into a ball of despair otherwise.

But when 2015 rolled around, I was having to keep other people's schedules. That lasted until 2018, when I simply didn't have the mental space to schedule anything beyond the multitude of my own medical appointments.

So I found myself working on relearning something that used to be habitual. Hopefully, this old dog can relearn her old tricks.

Math = Money for Authors

Y'all know I don't often plug other people's books, but if you're a writer, you want to make writing a full-time career, and you've never owned a business before, Math = Money for Authors is something you should read.

This isn't one of those self-proclaimed gurus who teach because they can't fucking write. E A West really does write fiction for a living under the pseudonym Elizabeth Ann West. She's also a single mom with two kids and a dog, so her fingers on the keyboard is what feeds her family and keeps a roof over their heads.

Despite my law and business background, she taught me a different way of thinking about my income. One that will help me in the long run. She just might help you, too.

It's Monday and It's Raining.

The weather fits my mood. It's been a rough couple of weeks dealing with readers.

I knew I was taking a huge chance by making Hero De Facto free and promoting it through a couple of sites I use as a reader, but never have as a publisher. You do get people to take a chance on you, but they may not be your peeps.

Normally, that's okay. The reader says, "Not for me," sets aside my book, and moves on with their life. Hell, I know I've done that with a few writers. Some of them are even my friends. *grin*

If it was just Hero De Facto, I wouldn't have said anything. I'm all too aware of how white nationalists are trying to politicize the comic book/superhero genre. I expected some backlash because I *GASP* have female protagonists!

But yesterday, Alter Ego put out a new short story. She hasn't released anything in the three years. It was one of those things I'd written over the last five years of insanity in my personal life, but didn't have the energy to publish until now. A friend who writes the same genres as Alter Ego let me do a takeover on her website today. Usually, those events are loads of fun.

But...you guessed it. A reader immediately started ranting about the retail site I was using for my giveaways. *sigh*

Has my mindset changed that fucking much with my cancer? I have bad days, but I wake up nearly every morning just grateful to still be here.

But the entitlement I'm seeing blows my mind. Everyone WANTS to be offended.

I don't have the energy to deal with it on a daily basis. So I'll gripe here for a moment, then move on.

Because Justice Anthea has a city full of people she needs to save from demons. And ironically, a demon battle makes me feel better. *grin*

CHER Month

I wish I looked that good in my forties!

Third One Down for the Year

I've been ignoring most things in favor of finishing edits on Hero De Novo. The files were turned into my formatter about five this afternoon. WHEW! That's one major thing off my plate.

Now, I've got to buckle down on A Matter of Death.

I don't want to jinx anything, but I'm looking forward to just writing for a while. That's the best part of this job!

A Little Wednesday Fun

I'm behind on editing Hero De Novo, so I'll leave this little delight for you from the wonderful Neil Gaiman. He reads Fox in Socks for refugee relief.

Monday Movie Mania - Hellboy (2019)

With the low box office and bad reviews, I took DH to see Hellboy (2019) before it gets washed away in next week's tsunami of Avengers: Endgame. I want to say the critics were wrong about this movie. I really, REALLY do.

*sigh*


* * *


SPOILERS


* * *


PROS
1) Kudos to Ed Skrein for bowing out as Ben Daimio once he learned the character was of Asian decent.

2) I totally agree with Mila Jovovich that a better cast could not have been assembled. Nor do I blame the cast for the movie's missteps. They did the best they could with what they were given. Not to mention, I've seen the entire cast, except for Sasha Lane, in other things and I know these people can act!


CONS
1) The producers should never have put Ed Skrein in the position where he felt he had to quit. Read the fucking source material and quit white-washing, people!

2) The writing, directing, and editing were abysmal. The story made no sense unless you are a hardcore Hellboy fan, and you read the original comics. Even then, they crammed at least six different storylines together and made a complete hash of all of them

3) The lack of humor. It wasn't for lack of trying, especially on David Harbour's part.

4) I can't believe I'm about to write this, but there was too much gratuitous swearing and gore. When it is essential to the story, I can totally get behind it, like in Deadpool. This was a teen boy just saying "Fuck" to get a rise out of his dad. Or the five-minute scene of demons ripping apart humans. We got it with the first one, guys.

5) Relying too much on CGI in place of story. This is getting old fast. Don't get me wrong. CGI allows us to tell stories we can't with conventional SPFX, but the key words there are "tell stories". Flashy pictures mean very little in this medium when it's not telling a coherent tale.


Overall, I have to say dig out copies of the Guillermo del Toro/Ron Perlman run on Hellboy. They don't make you scream, "What the fuck!" at the screen. Hellboy (2019) barely earned 2 out of 10 stars. And one of those points is for a shirtless Daniel Dae Kim.

CHER Month

Yes, I ripped off the title to one of her songs for one of my books.

Cancer-versary

I've been a little out of it this week. Even DH noted it at dinner Tuesday night. My body might be here on Earth, but my mind's in a galaxy far, far away.

It's the same weirdness that afflicts both of us in November when the date of DH's cancer diagnosis approaches. A combination of reflection and fear permeates every waking hour, even if we're not consciously aware of it.

I would much rather blame the head fuzz on the work schedule I created for this year. The second book of a series launched, I'm editing the third book in the same series, and I'm writing the third book in another series. But I'm not busy enough to clear the cobwebs.

Heck, I wish I could blame my distraction on allergies. Buds have exploded on the local trees, the grass is a lovely shade of green, and daffodils are blooming.

So I just need to be patient. Next week, the mind fuzz will pass. Spring is in bloom, and the weather is warming. I'm alive and healthy and happy. That's what I need to focus on.