Thursday Thoughts: Universal Small Steps

Posted on February 6, 2025 by Silver James

Yeah. I fell down on the job. Normally, I set up these posts the day before because…

While I’m awake–normally–at 6 a.m., I’m doing things like letting Jake in and out and feeding Pete and Loki and the porch cats. Then I put up the dishes from the previous night’s dinner and a few other housekeeping details before settling in at my desk and…well…I’m normally on autopilot when it comes to wors until at least 8 o’clock. Or so. But I got distracted yesterday. Actually, I got frustrated. Word was being a PITA. Then Iffy decided the book needed a brand new prologue. And then Word continued to be a PITA (and I’m not talking about the really yummy Greek-style bread!) so in all that mayhem, I forgot about the blog. Turns out, yesterday’s message from the Universe kinda sorta reminded me of…stuff.

The thing about making it big and doing it fast, Silver, is that invariably the first steps will be small and slow.

Which oddly, for too many, is reason not to take them.

You know better, huh?
The Universe
©www.tut.com 

P.S. Silver, shoes comfy?

So, the Universe decided I needed to take small steps in this big book. Or something. Because WordPress decided it wanted to not play nice for about 10 minutes. 😔 *sigh* I haven’t had my coffee yet so I’m not sure if I’m making sense or not. That said, I’m my my comfy houseshoes. I’ll get back to work on the book AFTER that coffee. In the meantime, what big things are you doing today?

Posted in Craft, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Wednesday Words: Remember When

Posted on February 5, 2025 by Silver James

We’ve arrived at midweek once again. That means it’s time for a prompt and new words. I have both to share. FYI, I managed an Honorable Mention last week in Thursday Threads. What was the prompt you ask? It’s this: *Remember that when I’m gone.* I’ll admit, I had to ponder the phrase for a while. Then I recalled one of the characters who pops in and out of the New York Bratva Wolves WIP. She comes back to Brighton Beach, which means she left Brighton Beach. Therefore, she likely grew up in Brighton Beach and would maybe even grown up with some of the Wolves. Therefore, I bring you this snippet:

****
Lara sat primly, ignoring the boys. They ignored her too. She wished Xavier had let her stay home alone. She’d have been fine and she could finish her book. It was due back at the library tomorrow and she’d just gotten to the exciting part. Now she’d have to stay up late, hiding under the covers reading by flashlight.

“What’cha doin’, little girl?”

She glanced up and almost groaned. Misha. Why was he here? Way older, he normally ignored her, much to her discouragement because, yeah, she had a huge crush on him.

“I’m not little and I’ll grow up soon enough.”

“You are little to me.” His cocky grin irritated her. “And you always will be.”

“Remember that when I’m gone.”

“Gone? What does that mean?”

“I won’t be around forever.”

He laughed. “You just gonna take off? Where could you go?”

His arrogance frustrated her but it was his utter dismissal of her as a person that hurt. He never acknowledged anything she did. She gathered up her stuff. When she looked back at him, her face was a blank slate, all emotion wiped clean.

“I’ll go where I want, when I want, do what I want. I’ll be something special.”

He laughed at her. “No, you will stay here with me. Always.

“Tell X I’m going home.”

Outside, she paused on the sidewalk to stare up at the shadowy figure watching from the third-floor window. “Be careful what you wish for.”

Was that caution for Misha or herself?
****

There you have it. Those characters are slowly gelling in my mind but not sure where their book fits in the scheme of things. First, I need to set RETRIBUTION free. I’ll probably “piddle” with several projects currently on the back burner and see which one starts to boil. I still have 10 days before worrying about what’s next. In the meantime, writers, take the prompt and run if any of your characters need a reminder. 😉 Readers, what are you wishing for today?

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Tuesday Tidbits: Ta-Da!

Posted on February 4, 2025 by Silver James

There it is girls and boys! The cover for MOONSTRUCK: RETRIBUTION. This is the “final” chapter for the Wolves of the 69th, though those of you familiar with the Moonstruck world know that the “Originals” tend to pop up, sometimes when you least expect it, in other books. This “conpendium includes CHRISTMAS MOON, BLUE MOON, and MOON SHOT plus several new scenes, some minor changes to the original stories and a short story that is interspersed. Here’s the blurb:

Secrets…
The Wolves’ existence has remained a secret for over 200 years. Now, the members of Army Special SciOps Unit 69 have been exposed—and so have their families.

****
Lies…
When Wolves fight for their hearts, they’ll risk everything to uncover the lies endangering those they love.

Betrayal…
When those you trust turn on you, the Wolves have one answer: scorched earth.

Lied to and betrayed by the government they honorably served in secret, the Wolves are focused on survival. They went underground only to be hunted. All they want is the chance to live the lives they’ve carved out for themselves and their families. Then their mates and children are targeted. It’s time to stop running and start holding those responsible accountable. The time for justice has passed, now it’s time for retribution

Warning: Secrets, lies, betrayal are more personal under the full moon and retribution is the final solution.
****

There you have it. Thoughts? Changes? Additions? Help?!?! In the meantime, I’m back to formatting. Yippee. Not! 🙄

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Groundhog Monday

Posted on February 3, 2025 by Silver James

How many of you watched “Groundhog Day” yesterday? I thought about it but decided I needed to work instead. And work indeed I did.

What a weekend! Oh, nothing happened. Not really. It’s just that MOther Nature got drunk again and gave us 70s for highs on Saturday and Sunday. Don’t worry. She’s a big ol’ tease and all the procastinator critters around here saw their shadows so winter is coming back! Saturday, we had siren test followed by lunch with the Kids at their new fav Mexican restaurant. Stormy had a soccer scrimmage Saturday night but we didn’t go. Only says she uttered enough bad words for all of us. Evidently, the officiating wasn’t the best. Ah well. Yesterday, I worked. Which leads me to…

Writing! I did some. In fact, this morning, after enough coffee to open my eyes, I shall begin the formatting process. MOONSTRUCK: RETRIBUTION has hit The End. It’s almost reasdy for prime time release. I need to work on the front matter, update the back matter, and format it for upload to Amazon and Draft2Digital. There will be a cover reveal tomorrow for Tuesday Tidbits. 🤞🏼 Still on track for a Valentine’s Day release and maybe even a pre-order period. I’ll have to look at the rules to see how much lead time I need after it’s uploaded to do a pre-order. I’ll keep y’all posted.

In reading news, yeah…not doing much of that. I am way behind on my 2025 Goodreads challenge. I’ll catch up eventually. I’m currently listening to THE WHITE DRAGON, book 3 in the Dragons of Pern series by Anne McCaffery. I have some of the other books in the series too but I’m thinking of taking a break after this one. There are some new releases hitting that I’ve been waiting for.

And that’s about the sum total of my weekend. I didn’t do a lot last week either. No major cooking adventures. No cute critter adventures. I went to Wallyworld. I did laundry. I hung out a bit on X. I want “On Patrol Live.” I live such an exciting life. 🙄 That’s why I write. I get to live vicariously through all my characters. On that note, I need more coffee and then it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty of being a writer. I sooo do not enjoy the “technical” side of the process but for the fact it means a new release is coming soon! What’s coming soon in your life?

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Friday Sinema: Southern-iriso Potter

Posted on January 31, 2025 by Silver James

Yes, I AM easily amused. Why do you ask? Just watch and if you don’t find one thing that makes you snicker, I’ll eat the sorting hat. Just sayin’… Have a gret weekend! 😁

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Thursday Thoughts: Universal Just Sayin’

Posted on January 30, 2025 by Silver James

How many times have we heard the phrase”Writing is a journey.”? (And yes, this is when an editor would come in handy because I’m too lazy to go look up the rule about phrases and punctuation at the end of a sentence. Just go with it, okay?) Ahem. Where was I? Oh yes. Writing is a journey. The road to publication. Yada, yada. What it is is a long slog. And that double “is” is anouther editorial situation. In addition to the trip between Chapter 1 (or Prologue) and The End resembles today’s missive from the Big U:

Silver, should you ever, suddenly, round a bend on the road of life and see before you an enormous uncharted mountain with towering cliffs, jagged rocks, and seemingly impenetrable walls, please consider it a sign that your dream is considerably more worthwhile than you had previously imagined, that you’re exactly where you should be, and you’re about to get to the very best part.

Just sayin’ –
The Universe
©www.tut.com 

P.S. Thanks for all the goosebumps, Silver.

That pretty much explains the process. There we writers are, typing (or scribbling) along, our characters rolling along their jaunt through the plot and boom! There’s the defining moment of the tale. The turning point. The crisis. The climax. And then it’s all downhill from there. Not that we can coast to the end or anything. I think the point the Universe is making comes down to this: Writing a book IS a journey, with lots of twists and turns. It starts with a dream. There’s frustration and despair and writer’s block. There’s ennui. (I’ve always wanted to use that word but I don’t write historicals so…) There’s self-recrimination of the I’m-not-good-enough or this-is-total-crap variety. And then there are the moments when we make ourselves laugh or cry and our characters surprise and delight us. And then we get it. Our dream is worthwhile and we ARE about to get to the very best part. Just sayin’…

Happy trails, m’friends. Along the way, writer and readers, drop me a line about the very best part of your day today.

Posted in Craft, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Wednesday Words: What’s Left?

Posted on January 29, 2025 by Silver James

Guess what?!? It’s Wednesday! And that means Words! I’m amazed that I can come up with new words and string them together not only in sentences, but create paragraphs and thereby a complete snippet. I am fully in edit mode and REALLY close to the end of the first pass on MOONSTRUCK: RETRIBUTION. I have to admit, I was really worried about it’s length but it’s looking like it will come out to about 120K words–or less. Less is more, me thinks. Anyway, new words, a snippet and a Thursday Threads snippet based on the prompt: *”To the left.”* For those of you who are Penumbra fans, today’s bit takes a peek at our favorite Fae, Ariel.

****
Druic crouched and pointed. “There. To the left.”

“I see it.” Ariel made no attempt to cloak his presence. It was bad enough Oberon had saddled him with this oaf, though he knew why.

The other man stared at him, his expression anticipatory. When Ari did nothing, he demanded,

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“What are you going to do about it?” Druic fairly hissed the words.

Ari almost smiled. Almost. “Nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing?” Druic’s face flooded with angry color.

“I mean exactly what it means. Nothing. Period.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not my job.”

His companion sneered. “Of course, m’lord. How could I forget. You are but the King’s Seducer.”

His frigid smile caused Druic to take an instinctual crab-step back. “And what do they call you, fair Druic?” Ariel settled his elbow on his knee and tapped his jaw with his right index finger as if it would help him think. “Ah, yes. They call you nothing.”

In one lithe move, Ari stood. “I have seen enough.” He turned on his heel and strode back into the forest.

Seconds later, Druic panted after him like a barely trained dog. “But—”

“But nothing, Druic. King Oberon ordered me to find and observe. I found. I observed.”

“Are you a coward? Why not kill it?”

Ari stared at the hand that gripped his forearm then very deliberately raised his gaze to meet the other’s. Druic pulled his hand back like it’d been burned.

“I told you. Not my job.”
****

There you have it. Yes, I haven’t forgotten about Ariel, who is probably due the next Penumbra book. And yes, I sort of have an idea about this scene because I have a sort of idea about Ariel’s story and his heroine. Beware of changelings… *bwahaha* So, writers, you have your mission should you wish to riff upon the prompt. Readers, want to take a guess as to what “it” is? 😉

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Tuesday Tidbits: Tiddly Winks

Posted on January 28, 2025 by Silver James

It is totally early. But it’s my normal early. Still, it’s early. And I still need coffee. Lots of coffee. BRB. The coffee maker just sputtered to a stop…

Mmm. Coffee.

I hope I sell some books over the next few days/weeks. When I checked in at the surgical center yesterday morning, the very nice admin was verifying my information: name, rank, serial number, employer. I’d put down that I was employed by Silver James. She gave me a funny look as she asked. I explained it’s my pen name and that I write romance. Her eyes lit up. She asked me for info on how to find my books so I gave her a card and then she mentioned that some nurses in the back liked books so I gave her more cards. Fingers crossed it means sales. When LG menttioned my books to a nurse at VA, I think she’s in the process of buying a bunch because there are days when I’ll sell one copy of every book in a series. Jake, Loki, and Pete appreciate the pricey food so I need to sell more books.

Why do celebrities–and just “people”–film self-videos of them having meltdowns over the most irrational of stuff. Yes, they’ll probably go viral but for all the wrong reasons because folks, most of us normal types are making fun or watching with a bit of “Holy WTF?!?” I should check my meme file for one about ego.

Speaking of social media, some clown on X is claiming that Native Americans are going to be deported. Dude’s handle claims he “might” be Sioux. Yeah, like that senator from Massachusetts was a Cherokee.

Yikes. I’ve been “political” twice now. Oops.

Let’s talk titles. Something else I’ve seen advertised like crazy on social media is a book about creating the perfect title. No, I haven’t looked into. Should I? Maybe. I mean, given the mostly unimaginative titles of the last book I published. I have the feeling that the book is based on SEO. Don’t ask me what that stands for. It has to do with algorithms, key words, and stuff like that there. If I had to do it over again, I’d probably take at lease one marketing class during summer school or something, though by the time I actually published, what I learned back in college would have been obsolete by YEARS! I have no magic formula for coming up with titles, though I do understand enough about branding to follow a pattern.* My most imaginiative titles come from the Penumbra Papers. How do I pick titles? It depends. Sometimes I have the title before I start (SEASON OF THE WITCH) and sometimes it happens while I’m writing (GHOSTS AND ANCIENT STONES).

Yes, I’m meandering. I need more coffee. BRB

Mmm. Coffee! Okay. I’m fortifide. The sun will be up eventually. Time to pull up my boots and ride for the brand. Ooh…after I finish the Pern books, I might dive into my Louis L’Amour collection. Happy Tuesday, y’all. I’m off to play tiddly winks with a bunch of words. What are you going to play today?

*See the titles in my various series. LOL

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Lasting Monday

Posted on January 27, 2025 by Silver James

Okay, 3rd time is the charm. If I somehow hit some weird combination of keys to make this paragraph disappear, I’m giving up. I wish I could go back to bed but unfortunately, this is one of those way-too-early butt-crack of dark mornings when I’m up and out around 5 a.m. to make it to the medical center for my second eye procedure by 6 a.m. By the time y’all have your first morning brew of the day, I’ll likely be on my way home. Unless you’re a real early bird. The good news is, this “laser scrape” is on my bad eye–the one where I can see shapes and colors but not really letters so it won’t matter if it’s dilated all day. Still, I’ll probably got for the snooze because…dude! This whole 4 a.m. alarm? The early birds can have it and keep it. Anyway, this pic is totally me today.

In other news, Drover (my Highlander) is home and happy back in his snug garage. Only’s Mustang hit the wall–figuratively not literally–and she discovered it would cost more to repair it than it’s worth. It is/was a cool edition–the Susan G. Gomen Pink Ribbon model, but it’s also a 2008 and has pushing toward 200K miles. She drove Drover until Friday when she finally found time to meet with a friend of a friend who is a car salesmen. She’s not in a 4WD 2019 Ford Explorere with lots of cool bells and whistles with about 85K miles. For commparision, Drover is also a 2008 but he only has 70K miles. She’s excited and we’re happy she’s in something safe.

Speaking of family news, Stormy had a soccer match Saturday night. He played just about every position, including a stint at goalie. He even make a goal!

I’m still in nostalgia mode and currently listening to DRAGONQUEST, book 2 in Anne McCaffery’s Dragon Riders of Pern series. Next up witll be THE WHITE DRAGON. After that, I have some of the Harper Hall books in reserve but I may move on to something else. We’ll see.

I hit a veg spot this past weekend. Not sure why because I zipped through a bunch of chapters last week on RETRIBUTION. Still hoping for a cover sometime this week. And I’m about 2/3s of the way through Part 3. I should be done this week which gives me two weeks to format, final edit and maybe even get it put up for preorder with a Valentine’s Day release. In other writing news, I’m looking ahead to the next project. It could be Ariel’s story (Penumbra Papers) or it might be a historical (1930s?) standalone in the Moonstruck Wolf group, set in Blaidd’s Gap and working title might be SMUGGLER’S MOON. Or MOONSHINER. Not sure. But remember that Brantley Gilbert video (Bottom’s Up)? Yeah, there’s a family in Blaidd’s Gap where that character would fit right in as an ancester. We’ll just see which pair of scissors Iffy grabs and decides to run with. So many stories! There are other possibilities: family saga mystery suspense trilogy set in/around New Orleans (2 written, 1 plotted); dystopian collection of 3 novellas (2 written, 1 plotted); sword-and-space ship fantasy (written needs MAJOR edits revisions); romantic suspense standalone (written, edited but needs some revisions). Did I mention soooo many stories?!?! Plus, there’s Hard Target, Nightriders, and Mafia (probably Russions.) Who knows? I gotta get RETRIBUTION out there first. Any thoughts?

And that’s pretty much it in the way of a Monday-morning round up for me. I’ll likely be around at some point. I might even be sociable. *looks up at the pic* Or not…🤣 How was your weekend?

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Friday Sinema: NASCAR Sunday

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Silver James

I hate to be late for anything. Any of us who are like this will appreciate this short because this is what happens when NASCAR does church… And yes, it IS a Southern Thing! Have a great weekend!

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments