Monday Mixtape

Posted on February 23, 2026 by Silver James

February is almost over. How did that happen?

The Winter Olympics are over. I’ll admit I wasn’t all that interested. I caught a couple of the figure skating routines. There was some spped skaing on late one night (or early one morning, depending on your point of view). There were some ski events–downhill, specialty, and crosscountry that I peeked at. I saw the Italian wolfdog cross the finish line. That was fine and I’ve heard the rumor that he was awarded an honorary medal. I would have liked to have seen the bobsledding but forgot to check the schedule and it seemed like whenever I tuned it, it was curling. Nothing against curling but…yeah. . I did watch the USA women’s hockey team take gold. Yippee! And then I watched the USA men hockey take gold against Canada on the anniversary of the Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Olympics. I loved the unbridled patriotism the team showed! Since the TV was on, I ended up watching the closing ceremonies. They were…a rather psychedelically hypnotic homage to many things Italian AND sports. Oh, and the life cycle of water. That’s not a dig. It was fascinating. The music was outstanding, the imagery incredible and yeah, I was a bit misty-eyed when it was finished.

In two years, the Summer Olympics will start. The majority of them will be in LA. Some of the watersports (canoe & rafting(?) sorry, can’t remember) and softball (YAY!) will be here in OKC. It’ll be fun.

In other news, I wrote a little, rearranged some chapters, and made some general progress. Sadly, life kept intererring. Nothing bad, just distracting.

We loaded up the boys and headed out on Saturday. Stormy had soccer. There was a high school volleyball tournament at the same the facility as the soccer games. Sooooo many people! And those teams didn’t leave between matches. The noise was crazy. Anyway, Stormy played well and even made a goal but his team lost. We were so glad to get out of there! It was great to see the Kids and the boys were very good and calm though they were totally ready to get out of there too.

Not much else is going on. I did laundry. I even took the lint catcher apart on the dryer and gave it a good cleaning. Why yes, I was avoiding writing, why do you ask? 🙄

As for the coming week, I have no plans and fewer goals. We shall see what we shall see. What are y’all looking at?

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Friday Cinema: Cerberus

Posted on February 20, 2026 by Silver James

I fell down the rabbit hole yesterday looking for a video for today. I caught the video of the Italian wolfdog who decided to run with the Olympic crosscountry skiers and crossed the finish line. I wanted something funny and lighthearted. Nothing really reached the “good video” levels so here. This is a favorite I think I’ve shared before. I keep it in the back of my mind for when I’m thinking about the Hard Target series. Which I”m not. I’m currently “in” Rochester but hey…words! Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Have a great weekend and watch out for the weather if you are facing any of the weird systems out there.

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Flaws

Posted on February 19, 2026 by Silver James

Earlier this week, I discussed character flaws. Apparently, the Universe follows this blog because this popped up in my inbox. Perfect people are boring. Uninteresting. They have no place to go but down, and while delivering a come-uppance to those practically perfect people might be fun and entertaining, it’s short-lived. The true entertainment comes from watching a flawed character stumbling around in the dark while they figure things out. This is what the Big U had to impart:

What if every shortcoming, slip, or bobble you notice in another person, Silver, was choreographed by Divine Intelligence inviting you to wonder, ask, and think about how you might increase your own awesomeness?

Yeah, that’s how I roll –
The Universe
©www.tut.com

P.S. Awesomeness, Silver, is a word in our dictionaries here. Your pic is beside it.

Take *me* out of the equation and substitute *your character*. Basically, this is the roadmap of creating character arcs. Looks easy peasy, right? You create a character with baggage. The character juggles and bumbles and in the end, grows. I used Sade earlier as an example. Today, I give you Ariel. He’s cocky. He knows he’s a chick magnet. Heck, that’s his whole reason for being–according to Oberon. He is the King’s Seducer. That was great for while, but along the way, Ari met some humans and lo and behold, it’s just possible that their humanity rubbed off on our favorite Fae. That’s his story and I’m sticking to it. In the end, I hope he is full of awesomeness. Writers, what flaws do you give your characters? And I include secondary characters in that. They need depth too, to keep things interesting. Readers, what are your favorite flaws to find in a character?

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Wednesday Words: That Counts

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Silver James

Here we are back with another Wednesday, along with some new words. Sadly, I didn’t make the cut last week but that’s okay. I shouldn’t be greedy. Right? Anyway, a scene is a scene is a scene after all. There’s a quote from a movie or a cartoon that is similiar to what I just typed but I can’t remember exactly what it is. Obviously not enough coffee in my system yet. Anyway, (which is my crutch word of the week, thank you very much) last week’s Thursday Threads prompt is: *”That counts for something, right?”* As I haven’t arrived at the point where Ariel and Aisling actually meet (at least in the current timeline of Beginning –> End, this scene takes place at some point in the future of the book.Yeah, yeah. Confusing. I know. Believe me. Anyway…here.

****
Ariel leaned back against the ladder-back chair, his long legs stretched out to the side but not fully blocking the space between their table and the next. He watched Aisling fiddle with her coffee mug, first by adding cream and sugar, then stirring, sipping, stirring again. He waited. She finally shoved the mug away and looked up at him, meeting his direct gaze.

“Okay, fine. What do you want to know?”

He almost smiled. That was what Sade would call a loaded question. He wanted to know everything. Who was she? Why were both Fae courts so interested in her? Perhaps the most important questions would be, what was she?

“Let’s start with the library. How did you discover the secret vault?”

She glanced away then focused once more on her mug and stirred the creamy liquid again.

“I just did.”

“Just did what?”

“Find it. I was in the lowest basement and there was a door. I opened it and…” One shoulder lifted in a half-hearted gesture signifying both nothing and everything. “There was a corridor with one door. I opened it. The room was full of books. Boxes and scrolls and…” She looked up. “You’ve seen it. You know what’s there.”

“I know what was there.”

Aisling dropped her gaze, slumping. “Why is that book more important than the rest?”

“Because it is.”

“That’s no answer.”

“It is. The answer. To everything.”

Her mouth formed an “O.” “I know where it is. That counts for something, right?”
****

There you have it. This scene leads into a several already-written scenes so yay! Forward progress in the timeline. Writers, there’s your nudge to get some words down. Readers, what are you counting these days? Crows? Chickens before they hatch? What?

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Tuesday Tidbits: Twists & Turns

Posted on February 17, 2026 by Silver James

I have a confession. I ❤️memes. I know. I know. It’s a serious character flaw. I have files and files of memes, mostly divided into themes but I also have a big file simply labled “Made Me Laugh.” I also have a file pertaining to writing and reading because…d’uh. I should also add here that I have one named “I Have a Meme For That.” If you know me, you’re probably wondering about coffee memes. Oh yeah. That’s probably the biggest file of all–or would be if I went through all the other files and moved the coffee memes tucked in weird places into the main “Coffee” file.

Don’t ask me why. I have no clue. I’m too old for this stuff but…they make me laugh. Or they express what I’m thinking a whole lot quicker than I would if I sat here and typed all the words out. And with luck, they make other people laugh too.

Speaking of character flaws, the meme I posted here is likely one every writer can identify with. I’ve lost count of the number of times Ariel’s Dang Book has veered off the rails. I’ve detoured and deployed, prevaricated and placated. Thank the writing gods for Scrivener because I can go to bulletin board mode, look at the whole mish-mashed mess and move stuff around–provided I’m made good notes as the the basics of the scene. Everytime a character throws a twist at me, the story turns a different direction.

And…back to flaws. Have y’all ever heard the terms “Mary Sue” or “Gary Stu”? Those are terms for female (the most prevelant) and male characters who are free of weaknesses or character flaws. They are perfect. They can do anything and do it well. Every other character loves them at first sight. I worried about Sade at first. Since she lives in a magic world but it has no effect on her, she could be on the cusp. But she cusses. She’s sarcastic. She’s self-confident. Or is she? *bwahaha* She has her self-doubts. She messes up. Heck, she fell for a vampire who was her main suspect in a murder case. And even 6 books in, she worries about why he’s with her and when he will leave her. But this book isn’t about her. It’s about Ariel. And Aisling. But then there’s Bran. He’s turning out to be a real troublemaker. Both in the book and in the writing of the book. That author in the top photo of the meme? Yeah, that’s me on a daily basis. And every single major character clamors back with “Shut up! This isn’t about you!” *sigh*

Anyway, I have hopes the dang characters will behave this week and I can get a lot of dang words written on Ariel’s Dang Book. What about y’all? A fan of memes or naw?

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Monday Mutterings

Posted on February 16, 2026 by Silver James

Happy President’s Day. If you have work, sorry. If not, enjoy your day off. We’re on the downhill side of February and my birthday is getting closer. Yippee. (Where’s the sarcasm font when I need it?) Actually, even at my age birthdays definitely beat the alternative.

In better news, pitchers and catchers have reported for spring training and the rest of the players start arriving this week. Also, college softball has started with the usual opening tournaments. My Cowgirls are currently 6-4 and the Sooners are 7-1. In other sports news, Stormy’s team won Saturday, 14-2. We missed the game for…reasons.

And the reason? LG and I were on the road. He’d found a replacement truck for the one that caught fire and was totaled out by the insurance company. The truck had a few “dings” that made him want to keep looking. Then the salesman called with a new deal. One of the “problems” was that the truck didn’t have siderails/steps. 4WD trucks sit high and me trying to get my leg that high with enough umph to actually haul my carcass into the seat without that step is pretty much a big ol’ nope. The dealership offered to add siderails and they also dropped the price to get it within LG’s loan payment range. So, yay! He’s now the proud owner of a 2019 4WD F150 Lariat, white with black interior and only 128K miles. There are a couple of body dings and a small rip in the driver’s seat leather but we can live with those. LG’s already bought seat covers to take care of that problem. We’ll deal with the body stuff as needed. Anyway, the dealership is located a bit over an hour’s drive away. And there was weather we were trying to get there and back in between so no game. That said, they seem to win more when we aren’t there. Hrmm….

I did manage to get some writing done. Not much but it’s progress.

And we got rain Friday night and Saturday. We REALLY need rain so I’d take a lot more of that. Sadly, though, not in the forecast.

On the other people’s books front, the next new title on my radar doesn’t drop until the end of March and nothing has cropped up that’s caught my attention so I’m doing a marathon relisten to the Graphic Audio versions of Ilona Andrew’s Kate Daniels series. Fun stuff.

Other than laundry, there wasn’t much else going on. Looking forward on this week, there’s nothing on the calendar other than a Wallyworld run at some point and hopefully more writing. Anybody doing something cool?

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Friday Sinema: It’s a Dog’s Life

Posted on February 13, 2026 by Silver James

First, happy Friday the 13th. I’m not superstitious (about Friday the 13th anyway) but if you are, here’s something to take your mind off any bad luck that might occur. I laughed. At all of them. Because, yeah. I have dogs. They want attention when they want it and they aren’t shy about letting me know it! There are a bunch so keep watching. Even if you don’t have dogs, you’ll laugh. Pretty sure of it. Have a great weekend!

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Thursday Thoughts: Asking for a Friend

Posted on February 12, 2026 by Silver James

It’s Thursday. Already. How did that happen? The good news is, there has been progress on the dang book. That may end up being the title: ARIEL’S DANG BOOK! What do you think?

On a more serious note, let’s talk plotting and planning and puzzling, oh my! I can all but guarantee that if you ask any author what’s the first question they ask themself about a new project, their answer will be “What if?” These two words open up worlds and plots, places, people. It’s how we get from here to there, no matter how circuitous the path. Writer’s block? We ask, “What if this…?” Granted, some of the ideas get tossed but often enough we hit the correct compass point and we’re off again. As always, the Universe has thoughts:

Ask your questions, Silver!

They’re one of the best ways to get our attention.

And one of the best ways to focus yours.

Needing to be needed,
The Universe
©www.tut.com

P.S. And then, Silver… listen for the answers.

Sometimes, that last bit is the hard part–the listening for the answers. And that’s true whether you are seeking answers as a writer or as a normal person. And yes, the deliniation is deliberate. Writers are not normal people. Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Any questions?

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Wednesday Words: Winning

Posted on February 11, 2026 by Silver James

It’s Wednesday. We are almost half-way through February. I’m wearing flipflops instead of thick socks and fuzzy slippers. The world is topsy-turvy. But I have coffee, a prompt, and new words to share. No win, place or show in the Thursday Threads challenge last week but that’s okay. Instead, I got words that have thrown a complete wrench into the dang book. Dang it. I’ve considered turning this mess over to AI to finish writing but truthfully? It would break the hive mind. *bwahaha* Today’s word require explanation but I have none. You’ll just have to figure things out for yourself. And the prompt? A simple–yet profound–one: *”She always won.”*

****
The two women, one a fae queen and the other a human FBI agent, squared off. Ariel managed two steps before Caleb snagged his arm and hauled him backwards.

“You may be older’n dirt and you may think you know all about women seein’ as what you do for your king an’ all, but I’m tellin’ ya, you do not want to get in the middle of this.”

“Just what is it you think I owe you, human?” Arrogance dripped from every word Titania uttered. “In truth, I believe you should be the one owing me. After all, I refrained from wringing your scrawny neck.”

Sade’s eyes turned to shards of green glass. “I. Was. Four.”

The Fae Queen made a poo-pooing noise.

Briefly closing her eyes, Sade grabbed her patience with mental hands and hung on tightly. Still, she couldn’t resist a jibe. “My patience was already tested this morning, your majesty. It came back negative so don’t push me.” There. That was polite. “You will tell me what the…” She paused, brain scrambling away from the curse words she wanted to use then continued from where she’d left off. “Flippity flaming flapjacks is going on. You and the King are up to your chinny-chin-chins in this.”

“It is Fae business.”

Before Titania could react, Sade had her in handcuffs made of cold iron. “Wrong. This is my realm, so my business. You are under arrest for crimes against humans.”

Titania sputtered while trying to magic the cuffs. Sade smiled. She’d learned and now she always won.
****

Yes, the story is off the rails. This is Ariel’s story and this this “side quest” has popped up and Sade is being incredibly stubborn about wanting to hog page time. We’ll see. In the meantime, writers, you have your prompt. Go forth and be inspired it it will help. Readers, have you won anything lately?

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Tuesday Tidbits: Hits and Misses

Posted on February 10, 2026 by Silver James

As predicted, the Super Bowl was boring. I did care who won but it would have been nice to have some real football shoved in there between the commercials. I didn’t actually time the difference but I’m pretty sure that for every 2 minutes of football, there was 5 minutes of commercials. For the most part, the commercials were utterly forgettable. Or boring. Or full of self-righteous virtue signalling.

There were 119 commercials from the start of the pregame singing through to the after-game talk. The numbers broke down like this:

  • Pregame/Intro: 17
  • First Half: 44
  • During Half-time: 20
  • Second Half: 33
  • Post Game: 5

I did NOT see the commercials during the half-time show. We switched over the alternative presented by TPUSA because Brantley Gilbert and Lee Brice! They are favorites. The weird funny bunny dude? Not so much. Anyway, I missed a couple of commercials I might have liked, based on the company involved so at some point, I may go back to watch them on YouTube or something. In any case, I watched almost a hundred commercials. There are 13 that I can remember the next day (as I’m typing this on Monday). My top 2 favorites are listed first. After that, they are listed in the order they appeared.

  • Budweiser Clydesdale and Eagle
  • Lay’s Potato Chips “Last Harvest” (It’s your farm now…)
  • State Farm Ins “Bon Jovi Living on a Prayer”
  • Toyota “Go farther, kids!”
  • Michelob Ultra “The Mentor” (Kurt Russell, y’all!!!) Ok, yeah. Big crush there.
  • Pepsi “The Choice” (Coke polar bear defects)
  • Redfin “Neighbors” (new family moves in, doesn’t “fit” until they do-a little preachy but I liked it
  • Dove “Girls Sports”
  • Pringles “I need a man” (so she builds him out of Pringles chips…)
  • Xfinity “Jurassic Park take 2” (funny and great use of AI, just sayin’)
  • Alexa-1 Chris Hemsworth “what can go wrong” Funny AND Chris Hemsworth!
  • Red Bull Dogs in Love
  • Hellman’s Mayo Neil Diamond is in the house, sweet Caroline!

That’s it. Those are the ones I enjoyed and would consider using/buying those products. There were more than many that had LG and I staring at each other and mouthing WTF?!!? A few stand out but I’m not listing them. They don’t need air space from me. So there it is. That’s my list. Any you agree with? Disagree with? Want to add?

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