Wednesday Words: Fine

Posted on August 20, 2025 by Silver James

I may or may not be fine when y’all are reading this. I really am totally not a fan of technology–especially computer stuff. I’ve learned a little bit along the way but frankly, teaching new tricks to this old dog is something of a waste of time. It’s hard. Even with written instructions. Anyway, just in case I’m still elbow-deep in the set-up and tranfer, I’m preprogramming this because I know y’all anxiously await your snippet each week. Today’s prompt is: *”I hope you’re happy.”*

****
The flashlight beam bounced as Aisling’s hand shook, cutting wild swathes across the floor, walls, and ceiling . Something clicked behind her and a moment later the buzz of florescent lights hummed before the space was flooded.

She gasped and the flashlight clattered to the stone floor as her lifeless fingers loosened. “Who would do this?” Aisling threw up her hands, staring around the room in dismay. Books and papers were scattered higgledy-piggledy on every surface.

Ariel carefully toed a book with his boot. He flinched when Aisling slapped his arm.

“Don’t do that!” The angry librarian crouched and touched the book with a reverent finger. “It’s okay,” she crooned to it as she gathered it up and carefully smoothed a page before closing the book.

Thought he steadied her as she stood, Ariel’s attention focused on the book. The faded letters embossed on the cover shimmered. He backed up a step. “Aisling, put it down.”
Her eyes narrowed and her lips pressed into a thin line. He could almost feel her testiness. “This is a valuable book.”

“Maybe but it’s also dangerous. Please, put it down.”

Her brows knit together and her lips turned down in a frown. “Wh—?” She didn’t get the word out before flames licked along the edges of the book. With a high-pitched scream, Aisling threw the book at him. He didn’t catch it.

“Fine,” she sniffed. “You were right. I hope you’re happy.”

“Do I look like I’m happy?” He wisely hid the smirk forming on his lips, especially when he recognized the sadness lurking beneath the frustration she displayed.

Aisling simply stood for a moment, then turned a slow circle. Taking in the chaos, tears threatened. Her voice hitched as she said, “I don’t understand.”

Ariel didn’t understand either but he now had ideas. “I’ll help you clean up.”
****

The mystery continues. FYI, just to tease a bit, before the new computer, I’d been working on some Bran scenes. I’ll continue those once I’m up and running again. 🤞🏼 In the meantime, writers, you know what to do. Readers? What’s made you happy today?

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Tuesday Tidbits: Pleas…and Tanks

Posted on August 19, 2025 by Silver James

Presetting some blogs while I’m off-line. I have no recipe and no exact title. But this is the way I feel some days. You can always click on the link up there in the menu bar that says BOOK LIST and scroll through to find a title you haven’t read yet. Thank you for your patience while I stumble through the technical side of life. FYI, this meme about authors’ pleas to readers always makes me laugh. Tanks for being a reader. 😉

What book are you currently reading? I’m listening to Thea Harrison’s A DRAGON’S FAMILY ALBUM, an anthology of 3 Elder Races novellas.

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Just Another Monday

Posted on August 18, 2025 by Silver James

August is on a downward drift toward Labor Day. It’s always hot around here until Labor Day. After that, we get pretend fall, summer, maybe fall, summer, fall…nope just kidding, Indian summer, and finally, if we’re lucky, actual Fall toward the end of the month. I’m ready, even though we’ve only hit 100 once this summer. Humidity, baby. That’s the difference.

There was soccer this weekend. Stormy’s team won 2 of 3 games so yay. We made it to one game on Saturday, taking both Jake and Toby with us. Toby is getting a bit better but it’s obvious he’s had no training. We plan to train him as we trained Jake, to be a serive dog. Jake is getting older and will retire at some point, hopefully years from now. The way things are going, it may take that long to train Toby. I’m only partially kidding. He’s smart but ohhh sooo stubburn. The cats are still stand-offish but there’s been no fights or eating of “prey” which is good. Anyway, it was really hot at the game so when we got home and cooled off, everyone napped–dogs and people. I slept until almost 7 p.m. Yeah, I was tired. We didn’t make it to the night game and then LG had some health issues overnight so we didn’t make Sunday morning’s game. Match. Whatever a soccer thingy in called. It sucks to be old.

I’m still marathoning through the Elder Races series. At least I’m catching up to my Goodreads reading challenge. I was woefully behind.

Very little writing got done. Some, but not much. Not sure how much will get done this week, hence today’s LOL meme.

Y’all remember when I said I was getting a new computer and then the order got cancelled? Well, the same computer at the same price popped up again yesterday morning. Taking a chance, I ordered it. It came with same day delivery and it was delivered at noon yesterday. I’ll be out of order until I figure out how to get the new ‘puter set up. Hopefully, my brain doesn’t break in the process because y’all? I trully am a technophobe. Anyway, don’t worry if I don’t appear for a day or two. Hopefully not three. Unless I need a day off to rest my brain. 🤣

That’s all the news fit for public consumption. Hopefully, I’ll be back up and running in time for Wednesday Words. How’s life in your neck of the woods?

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Friday Sinema: YMCA

Posted on August 15, 2025 by Silver James

I used to be a big fan of Dancing with the Stars and then…stuff happened. I still come across their videos from time to time but this week, it was a video from the Israeli version of the show. I’mma just gonna drop this here, let y’all enjoy and wish you a great weekend!

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Success

Posted on August 14, 2025 by Silver James

The Universe is back in writing advice mode. Well, okay. Technically, It usually is–or at least that’s how I interpret the messages. This one in particular sets out things very succinctly.

It doesn’t matter if you are a plotter, a pantser, or a puzzler. It doesn’t matter if we write fiction or non-fiction. We need some sort of roadmap to get us from the first sentence to the final word.

The secret to every success, Silver, lies not in what or even who you know, but in clearly “seeing” where you want to go.

And going.

The power to have it all,
The Universe
©www.tut.com 

P.S. You were born with the gifts of a god, Silver, and I don’t just mean making it rain.

You know, in a way, writers are gods of a sort. At least those of us who create fiction. Too bad we can’t do it in the proverbial 7 days. Just think of all the books! 🤔 On second thought, probably better than it takes us a while. But we do breath life in the worlds we create, the characters our imagination gives birth to. It is our super power. Use it for good.

Now, if I could only make it rain on demand….

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Wednesday Words: Soul Mates

Posted on August 13, 2025 by Silver James

EDIT: Well, filch! Got the day right, wrong time. This whole am/pm thing is a pain and I get distrcated and don’t check to see if the dang blog publishes until waaay past OOPS! time. *sigh* It’s Wednesday. I have words. Sadly, no award for me from last week’s Thursday Threads but that’s okay. I have fun with these words and yes, I’ve already expanded this scene but y’all will have to wait until the book comes out. I’ll only say that this scene is part of Ariel getting to know the young fae who…well…you’ll see. This week’s inspiration prompt is: *“Our souls speak to each other.”*

****
Druic carefully carried the two ceramic mugs from the counter to their table, artfully dodging around people. With a flourish, he placed the latte with a stacked heart design in the foam in front of Ariel. He set his own mug down and settled onto the bench.
Ariel eyed his coffee then Druic’s. The other fae’s mug displayed a swan. “Do I want to know?”

The tips of Druic’s pointed ears reddened as he mumbled, “It’s a skinny vanilla.”
Sipping in lieu of laughing, Ariel maintained a poker face. He realized he knew very little about his new…sidekick. The kid had already compared himself to Batman’s Robin. “Tell me about yourself.”

Blushing more, Druic rattled off his lineage, education, and position in the Seelie Court. Ariel didn’t roll his eyes but it was tough not to. “So much for name, rank, and serial number. That’s not what I asked. I want to know about you. What do you like to do? Do you read? What’s your favorite food? I mean…besides drinking skinny vanilla lattes.”

“I blame that one on my lady.”

Ariel raised an eyebrow in surprise. “The queen drinks those things?”

“Oh no. Nonono.” Druic shook his head vigorously. “Not Queen Titania. My lady.” Scarlet washed over his face and ears.

“Ah, I see. Your girlfriend.”

“Yes.” The kid breathed out the affirmation like a prayer. “She is my one. Our souls speak to each other.”

Ariel wondered if the lady shared Druic’s enthusiasm. He’d find out.
****

There you have it, just two fae sitting in a coffee shop sipping lattes and getting to know one another. Writers, if you can use it, don’t lose it. Readers, do you like little scenes like this that might or might not move the bigger plot along? I call it adding a touch of domesticity. 😉

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Tueday Treats & Titles: Pumpkin Moon

Posted on August 12, 2025 by Silver James

Today’s treat is about as easy as it can be. I mean…two ingredients. Some stirring. Baking. And voila! Muffins! I’ll be honest. I haven’t made these. I probably will when it gets closer to actual pumpkin time but I figured we could all tuck it into our recipe boxes just in case.

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins
Yield: 12 muffins
Prep time: 5 minutes Minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes Minutes
Total time: 25 min

Ingredients
1 box Devils Food Cake mix *do not add water, eggs, or oil
1 can 15 ounces pumpkin puree *not pumpkin pie mix

Let’s Make This
1 – Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners.
2 – In a medium bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree and cake mix.
3 – Divide the batter evenly among the twelve muffin liners.
4 – Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
5 – Cool for 5 minutes before enjoying!

Tips
1. Store in air-tight container for a few days or freeze.

2. If you have an “old-fashioned” ice cream scoop–the kind that has a release lever–use to scoop this really thick batter into the muffin cups.

3. This batter is very dense so the muffins don’t rise much.

Poor Hannah. The school called and said she needed to bring a snack for the Pumpkin Festival at school. Liam found her sitting on a kitchen stool staring at a can of pumpkin puree and a box of cake mix. She hadn’t been to the store, didn’t have eggs, milk, or oil. If these things don’t taste yummy, then blame it all on Liam. 😉 Curious? Grab the whole MOONSTRUCK GENESIS series to get the whole story of how Hannah met Mac and the Wolves, how Liam came into the world, all the adventures and the formantion of the Sisterhood of the Mates. And finally, how they found themselves in a small mountain town in West Virginia. Just click on the pic, the series title, or use the QR code to take you to the series landing page. You can find all the books and all the on-line retailers where you can procure your copies. And just remember… It might be August but pumpkin spice everything is just around the corner!

Pssst. This is an actual recipe. Cross my heart.

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Monday Misadventures, Toby Edition

Posted on August 11, 2025 by Silver James

Another Monday and we’re almost mid-August. Days are getting a little shorter. School starts this week. We’re still sleep deprived and wondering if we’ve lost our collective minds or if they just wandered away for a short adventure.

Speaking of adventures, last week was a whirlwind of them as you know if you read my Friday post. There have been a few improvements, some status quos, and lots of coffee.

Woke up Sunday morning to the debris of a small tornado, ie. Toby. He shredded the pillow Pete naps on when he’s not napping on the bed. It sat on my antique cedar chest and Pete had the stuffings arranged just the way he wanted them. That’s been his go-to spot for a couple of years. I’d caught Toby lying on it the other night, took it away, told him “NO!” in no uncertain terms and put it back where it belonged. Yeah, well. I know better now. He seems obsessed with Pete’s scent. On the flip side, Pete is all attitude now. He’s figured out that Toby doesn’t quit know what to do with him when he stands his ground. Pete gets a smug look when he sits blocking a doorway and Toby just sort of stands there making little whiny noises.

Sadly, Loki is still mostly in the witness protection program. He did come out yesterday morning for a bit while both dogs were outside. Toby has tried to get into Loki’s secret hiding places under the table and bed in Jake’s room (aka the guest room) whick Loki considers to be his room too. I’m fairly confident they will work it out. Loki needs to just stop and stare at Toby like Pete does in stead of running away. When he runs, Toby thinks it’s a game.

Saturday night, I tried a different tactic for the Midnight Barking. Pete was still out in the garage so I invited Toby to get on the bed thinking he was just missing warm-blooded contact. Oh. My. God! It was like trying to sleep with a toddler who’d just eaten a whole chocolate cake and was jonesing for a can of Redi-Whip. Not my brightest idea even if it made me remember back to the days when Only would sleep with us upon occasion.

I did manage a little bit of writing. I really wish this dang book would write itself. I’d tell it to take it’s place on the back burner for lack of cooperation but no other characters/plots have stepped up to pinch hit. I’m about 23K words in. I know the story and have a good sense of the characters now but the words I write really are blah. So I write over them. Around them. Under them. Then I erase them and start over. Rinse and repeat until I get fed up and say, “I’ll fixe the damn think later, move on!”

It’s hot. We’ve only hit 3 digits once so far but we’ve pushed that mark a lot with high enough humidity to make being outside miserable. I will say that the wind this morning held a hint of cool even though it was 79 at 7 a.m. We’re supposed to get a break for a few days starting tomorrow. The good news is, the days ARE getting shorter. As I mentioned to begin this post.

On that note, I need to start the laundry, drink some more coffee, try to figure out how to train a stubborn dog–I mean seriously!! Toby is a toddler in the terrible twos. You say “No!” and he stares right back and mimics with a “BarkNo!” 🙄 How was your weekend? Also, have a great week! May we all be productive.

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Friday Free-For-All: Critter Edition

Posted on August 8, 2025 by Silver James

TGIF! I promised some news. This has been quite a week. Let me back up to Sunday. Well, actually, I need to go back a little further. LG and I have been watching the local rescue pages. I mean, we’ve always kind of done that but it’s been a long time now since Boone crossed the rainbow bridge. Jake has been happy being an only dog, seemingly. But he is getting older and having a younger running buddy might be a good thing. We had no plans to actually adopt. We just window-shopped. The D&CDS has always been good to us, putting the right dog or cat in our path at the right time.

So…Last week, I saw a dog posted on the Neighborhood app. Someone had dumped a Great Pyrenees out at the lake and he ended up on the portch of a young couple that do fostering with a GSD rescue. The gal was posting in all the usual places. No microchip. No one claimed him. They then went knocking on doors. They found an elderly brother and sister (and by that, I mean even older than LG and me) who had started taking care of the dog and had him vetted. He’d already been neutered by they got his shots and had him tested for the usual. But then they had trouble confining him–short fence and he is a wanderer. When he didn’t come home, they figured something had happened. They admitted they couldn’t handle him, huge puppy that he is. So, the couple started looking for fosters and/or shelters.

I showed his picture to LG. We talked about it. I contacted the gal. We talked. He’s 1 1/2 years old. His potty trained. He’s heartwarm negative, has his shots, as mentioned neutered. Got along with their herd of GSDs and their cats. On Sunday, they brought him over to meet Jake. There was no dust-up. Thing was, LG had a procedure (upper GI scope) scheduled for Monday morning and I had to go with him. We didn’t want to leave the pup home alone with the cats until we were sure there’d be no dust-ups there. They agreed to keep him one more day and they’d deliver him back to us on Monday afternoon. Happy anniversay to us. 😂

This is Toby. He is sweet and goofy. He is also nosey. Very curious. He has to smell everything. I haven’t been able to get any “cute” pictures of him but you can get an idea from the two I’m posting. Pete is not happy but he’s only hissed at Toby once. Toby backed off. I’ve only seen Loki three times since Toby’s arrival. He’ll eventually come out and make friends. Jake has warned Toby off from being too curious about Loki. Click on the side arrows to see his other picture.

According to the vet, Toby is likely 1/2 Pyre and 1/2 Anatolian Shepherd. He’s already as tall as Jake but not as heavy. Jake is 130, Toby is only 90 at the moment. He’ll put on a little weight as he matures. I can testify that he is ALL muscle! Training him is going to be fun. 👀 He’s smart but stubborn. He is also a night owl. Any little noise outside and he’s on alert. BarkBarkBarketyBark. Last night between 11 pm and 6 am, I went out with him twice and LG went out three times. Hopefully, he’ll learn. If not, I see many daytime naps in my future.

In other news, the tests found nothing wrong–which is good, sort of–but that means we still don’t know what is causing his symptoms.

That’s all the free. What’s your week been like? Have a great weekend!

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Journey

Posted on August 7, 2025 by Silver James

IYKYK

I’ll admit something here. I laughed out loud when I read this little tidbit from the Universe. Are y’all familiar with the above internet abbreviation? It stands for “If You Know, You Know.” It’s a way to share something of an insider’s joke without giving it away or going into a deep explanation. It pops up a lot on X. I’ll let you read the Big U’s message, then I’ll explain but some of you–especially those in the various writers’ communities on X–know.

The one thing all famous authors, world-class athletes, business tycoons, singers, actors, and celebrated achievers in any field have in common, Silver, is that they all began their journeys when they were none of these things.

Yet still, they began their journeys.

You are so poised for greatness,
The Universe
©www.tut.com 

P.S. One day, they’re going to name something big after you, Silver! Like a statue, a college… or a hurricane.

So…Most social media sites are riddled with “bots.” Those are fake accounts (often trading on famous people) and they want to follow and be followed for things like monetization but mostly to “sell you their services.” This is especially true for writers. If you follow them back, they immediately DM you. And they usually have fewer and a couple of hundred followers while they follow thousands. The same goes for the sexbots but that’s a different post. 😲 Anyway. The writer bots. They all have an AI-scripted pitch. Their first line is often “How is your writing journey going?” Hence my LOL reaction to this week’s message. But the Universe is right. Until we start the journey–whatever our journey may be, we won’t ever achieve our goals. My goal today is to write another chapter. What’s your goal?

P.S. I’m far more likely to have a hurricane named after me than I am any of the other options. Just sayin’…

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